Emancipation Podcast Station

By Emancipation Podcast StationEducation

Emancipation Podcast Station episodes

September 16, 2019 3.0 - Intros for Your World History Team
Welcome back to the emancipation podcast station, the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of high school students. This week...

Write your name, grade, favorite *event* in history, and ONE item you’d bring on a desert island

Emma - 12th, the moon landing, my phone

Illyana ~ 10th, Woodstock, An uber
Audrey - 10th, the invention of AC, Dora (she has everything in her backpack) im Dora lollllolol
Gabriel-10th, my birth, electric guitar

Hunter- 9th, a trident,

Ella - 10th, the invention of the internet, a cruise ship

Skylar - 10th, the hippie movement , i would bring a whole chick fil a restaurant
3 min
February 12, 20192.8 - 20th Century Part One
The Emancipation Proclamation Station
Welcome back to the Emancipation podcast station the place to hear about history, researched and retold through the eyes of Middle and High school students

Beginning of World War I:
Ella - One of the known causes of world war 1 turning into a world war was the alliance system. In 1839, the treaty of London was signed which was where Britain was going to protect the neutrality of Belgium. In 1879 the dual alliance treaty was signed between Germany and Austria-Hungary to protect each other from Russia. Many other alliances were also forming at the time.
Ethan - Germany’s navy was starting to get threatening to Britain’s navy. Britain took necessary precautions and signed a document with France called the Entente Cordial, tipping the odds of any war in in their favor. This made Germany realize they were a threat and thought they were being pushed back down, so in turn they became more aggressive and ready for war.
Hunter- something that happened about three months before the war was the assassination of: Archduke Franz Ferdinand, on June 28 1914, in Sarajevo, resulting in the July Crisis. How Austria-Hungary responded to this assassination was by issuing an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia’s reply to the ultimatum didn’t satisfy the Austrians, afterword the two moved to a war footing.
Emma - The power that the nations of Germany and Italy possessed at the beginning of the first world war was impressive as it was, but we have to take into account how quickly they had acquired it. Both of these countries, though they had deep cultural roots, were very new as official nations. Both had formed during the Franco-Prussian war barely more than forty years previous but now held power over regions stretching from Africa to east Asia.
Audrey - Starting in 1892 there was an alliance between France and Russia and this was the Franco Russian Military Convention. Then in the early 1900s there were a series of agreements between Great Britain France and Russia so that they were in good terms with each other. The alliance between Great Britain France and Russia was the Triple Entente (which means agreements).
Skylar - World war I or sometimes known as the Great War started on July 28th, 1914, the war started in Europe. The war was in Africa, the middle east, Pacific islands, indian ocean, China, north and south atlantic oceans, and like i said Europe. They think that this war killed about 16 million people died from direct cause of this war.
Gabe - The war started basically because russia wanted to protect serbia and germany wanted to protect austria so when austria went to fight serbia russia went to fight germany
Ben - America only began to fight in World War 1 in 1917 ( April 6th to be specific ) with their allies. They had alliances with Russia, Britain, and France at the time, making them a strong force at the time. Led by major General John J. Pershing, 2 million American soldiers fought despite many American citizens wanting the country to stay neutral.

Other fronts of World War I:
1.Hunter- One of the many different fronts of the war was the Italian front, the italians were apart of the Triple Alliance during this time, but italy stayed out of the war in 1914 because it claimed that Austria had not been attacked so therefor italy didn’t have to support Austria. In all reality the Italians had a secret agreement with the allies, the allies said that they would give the italians some Austrian territory if they attacked Austria-Hungary.
EthanOL - As soon as the war started Japan decided they wanted what the Germans had. Japan was already allied Britain so that they could attack Germany without Britain growing apart from them. They attacked Tsingtao which was a German base in China. This was the first naval/aerial assault ever. They didn’t use exactly aircraft carriers but they did carry their aircrafts. This was called the Siege of Tsingtao which took place in 1914.
Ella - Serbia was a very small country with approximately 4.5 million people and an army of around 400,000 soldiers. Almost everyone who could be in the army at the time was in it but it still ended up being destroyed with 60% of the army getting killed, which decreased Serbia's population by 16%.
Emma - Italy’s agreements with the Triple Alliance and the Allies were only two of a long series of strategic alliances and deals the nation made on the road to the first world war. Their entry into the Triple Alliance was the first move, which was actually a surprising one, due to the fact that Italy and the Austro-Hungarian empire (another member of the triple alliance) had been enemies previously. Twenty years later, which still under this pact, they made a secret alliance with France. Twelve years after that, the Austro-Hungarian empire entered the war. Only one year later, they entered the treaty of London, an agreement with the Triple entente (england, russia, and france) to fight against their original allies, exit the triple alliance, and declare war on the Austro-Hungarian empire.
5.Skylar - Italy took part in the triple alliance in 1882 when they agreed to be apart of it, they were one of the first countries to take part in it. The whole reason that it was called the triple alliance was because there were three countries in it Italy, Austria-Hungary and Germany. This was kind of a weird mix because they didn’t really like each other but still said they would protect each other if worse comes to worst. Italy was making deals with other places like france in 1902. It was kind of just a lot of back stabbing.
Gabe - The Italians helped the allies by attacking austria hungary which is in the triple alliance so basically they made an alliance and were like let's help each other i mean we all don't like each other and would love to see each other destroyed so why not make an alliance really smart and then they dont even help each other its completely useless
Ben - Japan played a big part in the fight for the West Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Most of the reason Japan fought was because they wanted influence in China, but even with the help of Sun Yat-sen, they didn’t have many successes.
8.
Western and Eastern fronts of World War I:
1.Hunter- during this time in the war the Germans were fighting two countries, one of which during the western front was France, the Germans had thought if they were to defeat the French (Russia’s ally) in four weeks then they could have an advantage against the Russians in the Eastern front.
Ethan- The Germans realized that after the Franco-Prussian War, they were going to be due for another war with France. Germany unified in advance to make sure France had a disadvantage. The humiliation was huge and Germany took Alsace and Lorraine, which were mineral rich and valuable to anyone who controlled it. Germany realized this might hurt them later because France was allied with Russia so if there was war that it’d be on 2 fronts.
Ella - The western front in world war 1 was much smaller that the eastern front, but the western front could uses trenches as a defence system since they had less land to defend. The eastern front however, could not use this method due to the land being so wide and them not having enough people to dig them. Even if they were able to dig some, they wouldn't have enough and the western people could easily go around.
Emma - In February of the year 1916, the battle of Verdun took place when the Germans launched an attack on the French military at the border between Germany and France. Unlike a lot of the other offensive acts in the war, this battle was not intended to result in the gain of territory for the Germans. The point of this attack was to cause the French to send so many troops, and to cause so many casualties that the French would deplete all their resources and be forced to withdraw from the war.
Audrey - In WW1 the Germans were using poison gas as a weapon. Some of the poison gases are chlorine gas, which would immediately cause you to choke to death, phosgene gas, which wouldn’t cause choking and this allowed the gas to get into to lungs and there was a delayed effect, and mustard gas, another that wouldn’t cause choking but it would cause severe blistering which would take you out of the war.
Ben - Germany eventually gained peace with Russia on May 3rd, 1918. Russia accomplished this by giving Germany a significant amount of land. This was done under the Bolshevik Government of Russia, which was founded in 1917 after a revolution overthrew the provisional government.
Skylar- After the battle of Verdun the british and the French decide to go against a different part of the front, this time close to the Somme river in july of 1916. This battle was the first time they used tanks, it was an extremely bloody battle.
8.

Blockades and American entry:
Hunter- On May 7, 1915, a German submarine sunk the British ocean liner called Lusitania, ending in the deaths of nearly 1,200 people and that includes 128 Americans. The event strained diplomatic relations between Washington and Berlin, and turned public opinion on Germany.
Skylar - the united states had maintained being neutral in the war up until this point, Wilson had just won presidency again because he had kept the US out of the war. Germany was getting pretty desperate so they were going to go back to their idea of unrestricted submarine warfare but they knew if they did that the US would side with their allies. In january of 1917 the Zimmerman Telegram was created by Arthur Zimmerman sent a encoded telegram to mexico, it was encoded because it had to pass through lines that the US controlled. He told them that he knows a way to slow them down. (if someone wants to go off of this that would b awesome)
3.Ethan - In April 1917 the administration had thought about it and Germany had took it too far, with their submarine warfare. President Wilson decided that war on Germany was inevitable and sent a famous message to Congress for why it needs to go to war with Germany. On April 4th Congress decided to allow war on Germany, and war pursued quickly. Now, many people were deciding for themselves why we were at war. Many public opinion were stated, some saying it was inevitable, some saying we should stay out of war.
Ella - So the United States entered world war 1 for multiple reasons including them having financial ties, trade ties, and cultural ties with the British. Another reason being the British using a lot of successful propaganda.
Gabe - im a take a step back to skylar so the encoded telegram was intercepted by the british and then shared with america and it said that they would help mexico take texas arizona and new mexico back from the united states if they helped the germans in the war
Audrey - In November of 1914 the British declared the entire North Sea a war zone so if a ship came they would probably be destroyed. The ships especially couldn’t carry any contraband, and food was considered a contraband. So the Germans and the Austrians had to start rationing food to the point of eating only 1k calories a day. This was making the central powers weaker not only because they couldn’t get what they needed for war but people were dying and there were about 400k deaths due to starvation.
Emma - In 1917, Senator George Norris issued a speech in opposition to the entry of the United States of America into the World War. In his speech he acknowledged that both England and Germany were wrong in the actions of war they had chosen to take; declaring certain areas war zones, but he did not support the entry into the war and listed several alternative actions that could have been taken.
Ben - Most of the American soldiers starting arriving and began fighting on the battlefields of france on the twenty sixth of June. Britain and France also sent additional officers to help train the newly drafted American soldiers.

World War I shapes the Middle East:
1.Hunter- The first world war truly shaped the middle east, but the aftermath of the war made the largest change in the region as we know it. One of the events that had changed the middle east was when Russia had staked a claim on Istanbul and waterways linking the Black seas to the Mediterranean seas, and the French claimed Syria and Cilicia in modern day Turkey.
Skylar - the British wanted the help of the Arab’s because they wanted them to fight the Ottoman’s on the Palestine and Sinai fronts. So they told Hussein bin ali if he helped them that they would give him free territory, for an independent arab state and he agrees. After that he names himself king of the Hejaz in 1916.
Ethan - Britain had a presence in the Middle East at the time of the end of the war. Egypt was under the protection of Britain, and when they didn’t get freedom until 1922 there was a sort of revolt. In the end the Egyptians won this slight war and obtained their freedom. At this time Britain was also protecting Kuwait and they have since the 1800s. They still did not get their freedom handed to them until 1961.
Ella - In 1915, 6,500 people from the British army were sieged in Kut, after retreating from Ctesiphon by the ottoman Empire for 147 days till they were forced to surrender.
Gabe - The Ibn Saud ruled the basically the other side of saudi arabia right next to Hussein bin ali and he actually goes and takes the Hejaz empire and declares himself king of the sauds in the hejaz in 1926 and this is how you get saudi arabia
Emma - The British troops (made up of all the various countries that were part of the British empire, such as India and New Zealand) started their Middle Eastern campaign at the southern end of Mesopotamia, near the Persian gulf. They moved northward along the Tigris river, capturing land until they held control over the majority of what is now Iraq. Meanwhile on the other side of the land mass in Egypt, they were on the defensive side of the war for quite a while while the Ottomans attempted, and failed, to take capture Suez canal from British control.
7.Ben - After the Middle East changed, a lot of its boundaries and borders did too. They looked a lot closer to what they look like today. This happens a lot with very large wars because tons of land gets conquered, traded, or destroyed.
8.

Aftermath of World War I
Skylar - Woodrow Wilson gave a speech on January 8th, 1918 that is called Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen points. The fourteen points were statements that Wilson gave to try to make peace with everyone and end the war. During his speech he talked about why he thought the war started and what they could do to end it with peace instead of hatred. He talked about free trade, how all conversations should be open for everyone to see, freedom of navigation, and many more things.
2.Hunter- the aftermath of this war truly was amazing, this war had changed so much of the world that we know now, for instance: WW1 had brought about the temporary political disruption of four venerable dynasties-- Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Turkey. This war also brought up a massive social disruption, as millions of women entered the workforce to support men who had went to war, and to replace those who never came back.
Ella - World War one ended at the end of 1918, so in 1919 they started discussing the terms of peace so they held the Paris Peace conference. Now during the peace conference the winners decide the “terms of peace” but they all had different outlooks about it (someone plz build off of me if you can if not cool tho
Gabe - One of the “Terms of peace” that came out of the Paris Peace conference is the Treaty of Versailles which probably was the treaty to germany it said that germany was gonna pay for all of the allies losses they had to pay something like 60 billion in today's money and that's not including the resources they payed they also were only allowed to have 100,000 men in there army there weren't allowed to have any u boats battleships tanks basically nothing mechanized and we took lots of their territory and split and was given to the allies
5..Emma - The Treaty of Versailles had a huge effect on the German economy and government at the time. Another term of the treaty was that they were not allowed to make an alliance with Austria, due to the cultural and linguistic ties between the two. They were also occupied by the allies in the Saar region of Germany, near the French border. This area was a large coal mining area and for fifteen years, all the coal mined there got shipped to France. That still left a large portion of reparations to be paid back in currency so the government basically printed a ton of money, and tried to convert it into other currencies which resulted in serious inflation all the way into the twenties. So when that happened and they could no longer pay in money, France occupied the Ruhr region and began shipping steel and coal out of there.
Ethan - WWI left many families without a parent or without a child to come home to. Many soldier died in battle and from starvation, so in turn this was one of the most bloody battles in history. The U.S. lost approximately 116,708 soldiers in war. Not to mention the prisoners of war that died from many causes like starvation and disease. For those whose remains were never found we have the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier. This is a tradition that has been kept up since 1931 and have never not been guarded since then
Ben - Strangely enough, World War 1 kind of helped Japan’s economy. The demand for japanese products became very large and the economy flourished for a time. This also happened similarly in America, because the American economy in the 1920’s was doing very nice.
Audrey - There were approximately 16 million deaths due to WWI 8-10 million being military. About 60% of the soldiers deaths were the Entente and 40% were the Central Powers. But 6-7 million that died were civilians and out of that over a million of the civilian deaths were due to direct military action were the rest was caused by starvation and disease.
29 min
December 13, 20182.7 Revolution and Enlightenment
1750 - 1900 Revolution and Enlightenment
American Revolution:
Skylar - The war that has a bunch of names is commonly known as the Seven Years war. This was is also known as the French and Indian war, the war of the Conquest, the Pomeranian war, the Third Silesian war, and the Third Carnatic war. The Seven Years war actually lasted longer than seven years, it actually lasted nine, from 1754 to 1763. The reason that this war is known as a bunch of different names is because it was fought in a bunch of different places, since it was the first global war after all.
Ella - At the time England, France, and Spain were claiming land but each country was looking for different things. England was looking for territory especially on the east coast where they were going to send people and be able to expand. The french were wanting to be able to trade with Native Americans for things like fur and Spain wanted access to their sugar islands and metals. (The heck?)
Audrey - With the dates it started and ended the seven years war did last nine years but the reason it’s called the seven years war instead of the nine years war is the english actually didn’t declare war on the French until 1756.
Ethan - This revolution was started because the 13 colonies wanted to be independent from British rule. One of the reasons behind seceding from British control was because Britain was becoming more and more nosy in America’s affairs. This was exemplified with “salutary neglect” which was where the internal affairs of America were fine with Britain unless they became unruly.
Emma - One of the largest aspects of the Seven Years war was the power struggle between the French and English Kingdoms. Politics and governmental trends were beginning to change around the world, showing signs of systems we are +
now familiar with. However, the idea of strong monarchs still held influence over many systems. This war determined which line of monarchs would hold world dominance to this day.
6.Hunter- So today looks like I’m the strategy guy. For a bit of the eighteenth century the French kept sort of the same strategy by letting the colonies fend for themselves or giving minimal help(like sending little amounts of troops or inexperienced ones) Now for the British strategy. The British tried to use as little troops as possible(by inclination and practical reasons) they looked to offset the disadvantage of this by of this in Europe by allying themselves with other continental powers who had similar goals to theirs. Now for the Russians and Austrians strategy. The Russians and Austrians were determined to take back land and power from a German state called Prussia (in which at the time was a new threat to them) Austria needed to regain Silesia which was lost to Prussia in the War of The Austrian Succession.
Ben - The seven year war end with the signing of the treaty of paris and the treaty of
hubertusberg. England ends up in debt because of how much money they poured into the war, as everyone trades land around to eventually find a compromise.
Gabe - im going to add on to what ethan said the american revolution were becoming the 13 colonies and this is when the declaration of independence and articles of confederation the us constitution so these very important documents were being written
French Revolution:
Ella - In 1789 before the French Revolution France was poor. If you were to meet some of the families living in France at the time you wouldn't believe they were poor because of the nice clothing they wore and luxurious lifestyles they lived but there government itself was very in debt.
Audrey - With the financial state France was in at that time most people were starving because they couldn’t produce enough grain and what little money they had they had to use to pay taxes. On the other hand royalty got to live in a palace wear fancy clothes and eat whatever they wanted and so did the nobility which were these people with a fancy title who inherited money and land they lived in pretty much a small version of the palace and they didn’t have to pay any taxes.
Ethan - Many things happened during the French Revolution including the Thermidorian Reaction. This was when the French people started thinking that Maximilien Robespierre was dubbed a tyrant for which he was outcast. This made an entirely new party, the Directory, show up and ‘fix’ things. In this process they removed any elections and made the financial state even worse that what it was before.
Skylar - When the french revolution started in 1789 the king of France Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette lived a very lavish lifestyle. They lived in the palace of Versailles. France was in debt because of the two major battles they just fought in, one was the american revolution and the other was the seven years war.
5.Hunter- In the Brunswick Manifesto the Imperial and Prussian armies threatened retaliation on the French if it were to continue to resist their advance or the reinstatement of the monarchy. This along with other reasons made it look like Louis was conspiring with them.
Emma - During the French Revolution, in October of 1789, a group of peasant women led a March to the estate of King Louis XVI. They had heard all the rumors about the King and his wife hoarding grain while they starved. They demanded that the monarchs move from their current residence to Paris so that their actions would be visible to all the citizens. This demand was filled.
Ben - The French revolution ended in 1799. During this time the “Reign of Terror” happened also. Fifteen-thousand people including the previous king of France, King Louis XVI, were executed for treason as the French revolution started to end. Then Napoleon became the leader, turning France into a more military country then it was before.
Gabe - in 1795 the french revolution was ending and french now had peace with spain and prussia and there constitution was ratified making this a victory for france

Napoleon Bonaparte:
1. Ella - In 1799 Napoleon took power of France and in 1800 he decides to try to take back Italy from the Austrians. He does defeats Austria and makes a treaty with Lunaville marking the end of the second Coalition.
Ethan - Bonaparte was an extremely important part of the French congress and revolution. He led many of the successful campaigns. In the end, he was emperor of France for a decade and slight amount more during the Hundred Days. The Hundred Days was just the marking of when Bonaparte returned from Elba during exile.
Skylar - Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15th, 1769 in Ajaccio, france. Napoleon was a french statesman as well as a military leader. He lead the french to many successful battles during the french revolution. He was also the emperor of france from 1804 to 1814, and then again in 1815 during the “Hundred Days”. He died May 5th, 1821.
4.Hunter- Napoleon served as an artillery officer in the French army around the time that the French Revolution started happening in 1789. He quickly rose in the ranks of the military taking what chances he had during the Revolution and was a general at the age of 24.
Emma - Napoleon took power in the year 1799 under the title of Consul. He rose to power with two other Consuls, forming a three pronged leadership system, similar to the triumvirates of Ancient Rome. However, after rising to power, he very quickly declared himself the First Consul, which put him above the other two in authority and power.
Audrey - Napoleon had lost a lot of soldiers after trying to retreat Russia where he had 450,000 soldiers he was down to about 10,000. Then great britain was already against him but Russia and Prussia joined forces and he knew they had the advantage so as persuasive as he seemed to be he managed to get about 130,000 troops and even later he made it up to 400,000 again.
Ben - Napoleon died after being exiled in 1851 to Saint Helena, an island near the coast of Africa. Most historians believe his cause of death was stomach cancer.
Gabe - Napoleon was sent to Saint Helena by the English who he surrendered himself to because he didn’t want the prussians to get him and kill him or torchure him

France's many revoluts and republics:
Ethan - France has had 5 republics and 4 revolutions, making this time in history very interesting. I’ll just talk about the first republic. It was founded on the 21st of September in 1792. This was 3 years after the French Revolution. This republic was founded over the Ancien Regime getting overthrown, thus began the first republic.
Ella - In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte came to power. He ended the First Republic in 1804 when he declared himself emperor. In 1815 Napoleon was faced with a waterloo. He got banished off to Elba but was able to comeback. After that he spent 111 days in power again and then was SOMEONE DELETED MY STUF
Skylar - After that Louis the 18th dies, without children in the year 1824, so his younger brother charles the 10th comes to power. In 1830 there is the July revolution but it is not successful. After that Charles the 10th cousin comes in who is the Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe the first.
4.Hunter- The February Revolution in 1848 was only one of a wave of revolutions in 1848. In France the revolutionary events ended the Orleans monarchy and led to the French Second Republic. Following the overthrow of Louis Philippe in February 1848, the elected government of the Second Republic ruled France for a period of time.
Audrey - When Louis the 16th dies his younger brother came to power and he was called Louis the 18th. There was no Louis the 17th because he was louis 16th son who died in prison when he was ten.
Ben - The most influential individual in the government during that time was named Jean Maximillion Lamarque, he was one of the very few people in the French government that cared about the common folk. Once he died, his funeral urged on a revolt from the people, but the revolution was unsuccessful.
Emma - The event known as the June Rebellion of 1832 was another attempted revolt of the people against the current monarch. However it was an unsuccessful rebellion, or attempt at a revolution. This event was actually witnessed by Victor Hugo which served as inspiration for his story.
Haitian Revolution:
Ethan - This revolution took place in 1791-1804 when the Haitian slaves revolted against the colonists. The Haitians found freedom from their French slaveholders. The startup of this revolution was because of racist societies along with the French Revolution happening at the time since the would have trouble with sending reinforcements.
Ella - Vincent Oge was a very wealthy, mixed race businessman. He was one-fourth African American and three-fourths French. He was in Paris during the French revolution for business purposes. This man owned many slaves and lots of land in what is now Haiti but he didn't have the same rights and as some of the other men around him because of his race so when he heard they were gonna rewrite the constitution he started lobbying for equal rights and was successful in gaining the right to vote
3.Hunter- This revolution was a successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial rebellion by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign nation Haiti. It involved blacks, mulattoes, French, Spanish, and British people--- with ex-slave Toussaint L’Ouverture rising as Haiti’s most appealing hero.
Audrey - Saint-Domingue now known as Haiti is a French colony in the caribbean. It’s the western half of an island and that island was the island that Columbus first found when he discovered the new world.
Ben - In order to try and get everyone on their side after seeing the Haiti revolts, France signed a document in April 1792 that gave free people of color full citizenship. Some people think this was stirred on by Vincent Oge.
Skylar - The Haitian revolution started on August 21st, 1791 and lasted almost twelve & a half years. The Haitians won but it resulted in the Massacre of the French.
Gabe - when the french went to put slavery this dude named Leclerc came with 40,000
To fight the haitians and the yellow fever and 32,000 people were lost leaving only 8,000 people in lectercs army who also died so its now rochambeau who liked to bury slaves with insects and boil them in molasses so this was not a good dude and napoleon kind of just leaves them because he's got bigger problems in france and so dessieres is able to defeat rochambeau declaring Saint Dominigue independance.
Even after the slaves were already declared free in Haiti (though without their knowledge) a plan was made to actually remove the freedoms they had been given and to reinstate slavery once the time was right.
Latin American independence:
Ethan - After much time(300 years) of colonial rule, many Spanish colonies gained independence. This included Cuba and Puerto Rico, which were originally Iberian countries/states(I’m bad at Geography). This happened during 1808-1826. This happened so quickly it triggered a lot of things like government reforms.
Ella - Around 1750 while America was divided between european countries Spain controlled most of the Americas all the way down south to where chile is now and all the way North to modern day Texas and California. The Portuguese also owned a great majority of the land in South America around modern day brazil.
3.Hunter- After the Royal court returned to Lisbon, the Prince Regent, Pedro, stayed in Brazil and successfully declared himself Emperor of newly independent Brazil. However Cuban independence was fought against spain in two years (Ten years and barely any war). But Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish Rule until the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Audrey - Many revolutions in Latin-America were led by Simon Bolivar who was a creole and the word creole has had many meanings but this time it meant a person who descended mostly from spain but was born in the new world.
Ben - A very important document, well, series of documents, relating to the enlightenment was made in France during this time period. It was called “The Encyclopedia” and it documented all French political science and climate. A popular quote from this document is “The goal of an encyclopedia is to assemble all the knowledge scattered on the surface of the earth, to demonstrate the general system to the people with whom we live, & to transmit it to the people who will come after us, so that the works of centuries past is not useless to the centuries which follow, that our descendants, by becoming more learned, may become more virtuous & happier, & that we do not die without having merited being part of the human race.” ( May or may not read the quote depending on how much time is needed to fill. )
Skylar - Toussaint Louverture was able to set up his own nation basically because all the other countries were too busy fighting against each other. This is the only time something like this has ever happened from a slave revolt.
Gabe - Simón Bolívar helped Mexico Venezuela Peru Colombia Ecuador Bolivia which was named for him Paraguay Uruguay Brazil Argentina gain independence from spain
Emma - The Independence movements of Latin America were influenced by two main factors. Like many others at the time, they were inspired by the enlightenment, but the fact that France was undergoing its own revolution also served as an influence.
Imperialism
Ethan - Imperialism is basically the process of gaining land through demonstrating economic or political power. Normally it uses military force to prove this. They also distribute propaganda to get people to see it their way. They also down on their opponents teachings or laws to make it seem better.
2.Hunter- However Imperialism is different from New Imperialism, because the term Imperialism is usually used to the colonisation of the Americas between the 15th and 19th centuries, as against to the expansion of Western Powers and Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Audrey - A very important part of imperialism is industrialization. Industrialization is the use of technology to be more productive and efficient. An example would be the steam engine which allowed us to use energy we made to run machines and it made factories significantly more productive.
Ben - There are a few reasons that countries were so motivated to industrialize. One of the most obvious ones is money, being an advanced country attracts people that you can tax and factories help make things faster and cheaper. Another reason is land, the more land you have the more powerful you are.
Skylar -The definition of imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. The british and the europeans wanted what the chinese had, which was porcelain and silk, but the chinese weren’t interested in trading, finally the europeans find something that the chinese want and that was Opium, opium is the thing that gets you addicted to Heroin and Morphine.
Ella - The first Opium war took place in 1839 to 1842 and from 1856 to 1860 the second Opium war went on. During this time the very addictive drug Opium became legal. Because of this the Qing dynasty lost confidence and Opium in general was very destructive to this society.
Gabe - this is also around the time the japanese opened trade with america because commodore came with some pretty big ships and then came again with more to ask to open trade and the japanese were like don't want to have a war like the chinese did with the british so they opened trade to americans
8. Emma - All throughout history we cases of nations switching to imperialism from their current political system. This often leads to conflict due to the strong, controlling government powers, which can result in civil war and revolutions.
38 min
December 04, 20182.6 Renaissance and Reformation
Renaissance and Reformation
Spanish and Portuguese Empires: get out of my ocean
Gabe The Spanish and Portuguese are kind of the start to a lot of global trade but more so the Portuguese empire because they were more interested in trade then acquiring land and so what they would do is set up these things called factories which were a lot like warehouses for trading outposts and they set these up along there trade route which went from portugal all the way to the bottom of africa and back up to japan which was the route vasco da gama created and they found that the chinese wanted silver to reinforce there paper money and they saw this as a great trade opportunity and they would go and trade china's goods of basically anything for silver from japan to china
Ben - During the Spanish golden age, are and literature flourished. This was also during the Italian Renaissance, around the year 1492. The same year that Christopher Columbus discovered America. A famous European artist of this time was Diego Velázquez. He made various works for the royals of Spain that showcased his immense skill in talent.
Ella - In America, people often worked on plantations and in mines. The work they did was really harsh and difficult that sometimes people would die doing it. But it resulted in a large increase in production. And with that came the need for more labor so they began to use enslaved africans which brought West Africa into these trading networks and relationships with the spanish and portuguese.
Audrey - In 1598 a fleet of Dutch ships left the Netherlands to trade. A sailor aboard one of these ships was an Englishman named William Adams. The fleet sailed down the coast of Africa and made a stop off the coast of West Africa to trade, and this was very common for the European ships at the time. When they left there they sailed around South America ending up off the coast of Peru. At this point William Adams began keeping a journal and it says “It was agreed that we should leave the coast of Peru and direct our course for Japan. Having understood that cloth was good merchandise there and also how upon that coast of Peru the king’s ships were out seeking us.” The king that Adams was referring to was the king of Spain and this worried the fleet because Peru was a Spanish colony at the time and Spain and the Netherlands were at war. This just shows how interconnected the economy was at the time with how they new where a place was how to get there and what items would be beneficial to trade there. (Sorry its so long)
Emma - Prior to the beginning of the African slave trade, certain areas in Africa already held an important role in the Renaissance era global economy. West Africa in particular, played a part in the Spanish and Portuguese trade of items such as gold and ivory, as well as some spices. All of these items were highly desired by people of many cultures and were seen as symbols of wealth and luxury.
Skylar - William Adams sailed from West Africa to Peru, to Japan. When they arrived in Japan the Emperor put Adams in prison. These Portuguese Priests were in Japan and were trying to get the emperor to agree to let William Adams out of prison. Finally the Emperor agreed and said he would trade with him, but he had to help his army build ships.
Ethan- In Brazil their economic power comes from their sugar plantations towards the north. This changed when they struck gold in 1693. This was found inward on Brazil in the region of Minas Gerais. Them finding gold triggered the Americans desire to find gold in America. This struck down Brazil’s financial status for most of the 18th century.
Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment:
Gabe - The Scientific Revolution started around the early 1500s when copernicus says hey what if we aren't the center of attention what if the sun and we are revolving around it and not it around us which questions everything they believed and this kind of ended around the late 1600s when newton publishes the principia which describes our universe and around this time people began to question old beliefs that had been around since forever which began the Age of Enlightenment
Ben - The Age of Enlightenment was also called the Age of Reason. Historians from France usually place this period at around 1715, but other historians from around the
world think it happened in around 1620. Corresponding with the scientific revolution.
Ella - The reasons the Enlightenment started was not only because we had new tools of thinking but that it was almost a responsibility of the society now that they had scientific information that they could apply to there current information.
Audrey - The Age of Enlightenment was a very philosophical time when people really started questioning their rights and their obligations especially considering their social status, like why this person had the right to rule why others had to be slaves and why the upper class could own them.
Emma - During this new philosophical era, many “modern” philosophers began to emerge. One of these was John Locke, the writer of the Second Treatise Concerning Civil Government. This document expressed his beliefs on how people should treat one anGovernmentother. For example, one passage said this; “...when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.” This kind of thinking was growing larger in popularity during this time.
Ethan- The Scientific Revolution with things like the heliocentric theory that we use today. This was the first theory that said the universe revolved around something other than the Earth. The barometer was also invented during this time. The bifocal lens was also a great invention because it let people have the ability to see both far and near.
7. Skylar - im going to talk about Thomas Hobbes. Thomas was a english writer, who was inspired by experimental attitude toward nature and decided to apply it to politics. In 1651 he wrote Leviathan, a title he chose after the sea monster from the Book of Job. Thomas thought that humans in their original state of nature were unhappy. He supported an absolute monarch government, but didn’t support the Divine Right theory government. He didn’t support that kind of government because he believed that you need protection from yourself.

Mughal rule in India:
Gabe - The Mughal Rule Starts in Samarkand around early 1500s which babur who is Timur's great grandsons grandson tries taking and fails and he tries to take Fergana and fails and he does this a couple times before he goes to Kabul and conquers it in the early 1600s which after taking Kabul he starts focusing on more India then he does Asia and he even later on defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Delhi taking control over northern india.
Ella - One of the rulers Humayun had trouble retaining power because of multiple family rivalries. Eventually the Pashtun Suri dynasty dethrones him. He was able to regain control for a while with the help from the safavids but unfortunately tripped on a staircase and died.
Audrey - Shah Jahan was the son of Jahangir therefor Akbar’s grandson and he lived from 1592-1666 AD. Where both Akbar and Jahangir were said to be very tolerant rulers Shah Jahan was known to be considerably less tolerant. His rule was known as the golden age of Mughal architecture one of his greatest structures being the Taj Mahal. It was built in the 1630’s in Agra which at some point was the capitol. Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built as a home for the body of his wife who had died just before.
Emma - The Mughal Empire was an example of an Indo-Persian culture, a combination of both the Indian and Persian cultures of the surrounding areas. Examples of this can be seen in art and architecture of the time period which showed influences from both of these distinct cultures.
Ethan- The Mughal Empire was the 3rd largest empire on the Indian subcontinent to ever exist, alongside the British Indian Empire and the Maurya Empire. This empire expanded 4 million square kilometers. The largest expansion of this empire was when Aurangzeb ruled, with over 150 million subjects.
Skylar - In 1483 Babur is born, who becomes the leader of Fergana at age 12. He tries to take over multiple different places, and never won. Finally in the early 16th century he is able to take control over Kabul. When akbar became the leader he was able to add quite a bit more territory to the Mughal empire.
Sikhism:
Gabe - Sikhism starts in punjab around the time that the Mughals are coming into power with a man named guru Nanak and his followers are called sikhs which is from the sanskrit word sikh which means to learn
Ella - Eventually The Sikhs have a large increase in following from Hindus and Muslims. Jahangir becomes threatened by them so he decides to imprison and torture Guru Arjan in an attempt to make him convert to Islam. Despite being boiled and tortured he would not consent and he eventually died.kicking in the basement guess who
Audrey - Guru Arjan played an important part in Sikhism with the making of the Adi Granth which is a compilation of the sayings and hymns from previous gurus including his own so essentially the holy book of Sikhism. Guru Arjan also built the Harmandir Sahib in Ramdaspur a place later known as Amritsar which was intended as a place of worship for people of all religions and they had the tradition of Langar where they would feed anyone from any faith. The Harmandir Sahib would later be known as the Golden Temple after Raja had it plated with gold and it is now the largest free kitchen in the world.
Skylar - The Sikhism is started in the 15th century by Guru Nanak. Guru was born into a merchant class Hindu family, he was precocious especially when talking about spirituality, meaning he was extremely religious.
Emma - The Bhakti Movement of the Mughal Empire was a major influence of the development of Sikhism. The Bhakti Movement was a theistic that originated from Hinduism in Medieval times. However, it was not a direct branch from the movement.
Ethan- All Sikh believe that faith and meditation are essentials in their lives. They also believe in divine unity and equality of humankind. Now there are close to 25 million Sikhs worldwide and many of them have stayed in Punjab. The last guru was Guru Gobind Singh and named the Sikhs scripture Guru Granth Sahib.
7.
The Protestant Reformation:
Ella - Pope Leo X wanted to rebuild Saint Peter's Basilica which given to Peter from Christ himself. The cost to rebuild it was very high because it was one of the greatest architectural structures of the time. They planned to afford it by selling indulgences or pieces of paper that supposedly helped you get into heaven faster.
Gabe - The Protestant Reformation is when the church went from just the Roman Catholic church too methodist, baptist, lutheran, congregationalist, and presbyterian churches these were some of the churches that came out of the Protestant Reformation
Audrey - Martin Luther, who was a German monk and a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, was tired of people saying since they bought indulgences, which were pieces of paper that could supposedly get you to Heaven quicker, they were freed of all their sins. As a monk Martin Luther did not like the idea of people trying to take the easy way out by buying their way to Heaven so he wrote a series of arguments on the issues of selling indulgences better known as the 95 Theses and it is said that he nailed it to the doors of the castle church in Wittenberg.
Skylar - The protestant reformation started in 1517. The reformation started by Martin Luther. Then later on other leaders were Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin. The Protestant Reformation lasted until the end of the Thirty Years war, which ended in 1648.
Emma - The reformation was a distinct change from the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church. They very much believed that your actions impacted if and when you got to Heaven. This was what martin Luther was addressing with his writings, saying that the sinful nature was unavoidable and that faith alone can save us.
Ethan- The Reformation ended around the time of the end of the 30 years war. The war ended in 1648. By this time the society of Western Christianity had split into many different “churches” like Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican, just to name a few.
7.

The Russian Empire -
Ella - Modern day Sweden was once the home of the Vikings. They would travel around Western Europe by sea and attack and steal from towns on the coast. The Vikings were also known for their trading. There were many water routes from Sweden to common trading countries such as Baghdad and Constantinople. Large amounts of viking jewelry was found along these rivers.
Gabe - The Russian empire began with the varangians which were vikings being pushed back to Sweden but there was chaos in the northern slav area and it is said that they went to the varangians and asked them to rule over them because there is no order and so 3 people were pick Rurik being the oldest settles in Novograd and calls the land Rus which many people believe is where the word Russia comes from and on his death Rurik appoints Oleg as his successor and Oleg settles in Kiev expanding Rus to Kiev Rus
Skylar - The Russian Empire was officially proclaimed by Tsar Peter I, (the first, skylar do NOT say 1)following the Treaty of Nystad, which was in 1721. The Russian Empire was strong and alive well before that though, 1478 is when most believe in was truly established. The Russian Empire is the third largest in the world. It contains three different continents. Sometimes the Russian Empire is also known as Imperial Russia.
Audrey - The word Rus is thought by most historians to be the origin of the word Russia. But where did the word Rus come from? Historians have come up with many answers for this question. Some believe that the word Rus came from the name of Sweden at the time since that’s where Rus was, and some think the the Rus were a group of vikings.
Emma - The inhabitants of the Land of Rus are said to have come from two groups of people that resided in what is now Russia. These two groups were the Eastern Slavs and the Varangians. However, there were many other groups of Slavs that made up the other nations that now exist in the area.
Ethan- The Russian Empire lasted from 1721-1917. The Empire took up 14 million square miles and was ruled autocratically. It had over 170 million people and 100 different backgrounds. The capital of the Russian Empire is St Petersburg. Most of the population consisted of serfs until 1861 when Alexander II set them free. This Emancipation did not change the conditions for the peasant populus.
31 min
October 23, 2018 2.5 Pop Quiz-ish
No show notes today. The students were asked to find two things in history that happened around the same time and tell an interesting fact or make a connection.
12 min
October 16, 20182.4 Bysentine Middle Ages
Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students.
Byzantine Empire: 600 - 1450 Regional and interregional interactions

European Middle Ages: feudalism and serfdom:
Audrey - The Middle Ages lasted from the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which was a little before 500 AD, to 1500 AD. There are three major sections of the Middle Ages, the Early Middle Ages, lasting from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to 1000 ad, was the first, the High Middle Ages, from 1000 ad to 13 ad, which was a high point for the Middle Ages, and last, the late Middle Ages, this lasted from 1300 to 1500 ad and it wasn't a very pleasant time to live in Europe.
Gabe - feudalism is where if your poor you live on some land that you don't own a really rich guy called a baron or duke owns it and you still don't have money so you share a plow with your neighbor and you combine your ox together just to plow the ground so you can make a little money and you cant even leave with permission from your landlord you're a serf in a serfdom which is a state of being a feudal laborer so your like a slave who gets paid enough to survive
Ella - A Roman Emperor by the name of Charlemagne conquered Northern Italy, around modern day France, and many other places including Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Charlemagne was able to unify most of Western Europe and was considered a defining figure of the early middle ages.
Emma - The word feudal comes from the medieval latin word feudum which means “landed estate”. It is a really broad term that refers to many types of landowner-tenant living situations that took place during the middle ages in Europe. In the seventeenth century, historians and lawyers studying the middle ages wanted to give a name to these types of lifestyles in this era, thus naming it feudalism. Modern day historians don’t necessarily agree that they should all be lumped under one name.
Ben - And at that time around 1100 AD Rome was losing land to the Muslims that conquered some of the Byzantine area, So they sent some crusaders in 1096 to take the land back, (especially the holy land) and when they did, they decided instead of adding the land back into the byzantine empire they would just make some crusader kingdoms, so they made separate kingdoms that only advanced the divide between the east and west empires.
Skylar - Peasant revolting was also called popular uprisings. The peasants revolted in England in 1831. The revolted because they felt that they were not getting treated equally as everyone else, ex. they were working harder than everyone else and barely surviving. Other reasons for popular uprisings/peasant revolting is the government taxing certain people more, cultural issues, and religious issues.
7.Ethan- The Byzantine Iconoclasm was the destroying of religious stuff. This brought up much controversy that lasted about a century. This also further differed the East and the West. The Western Church used religious images often and the Iconoclasm didn’t affect them as much.

Origins of Islam:
Audrey - The closest translation of the word Islam to English is surrender, and in the context of the Islamic faith it would be the surrender to the will of God. A Muslim is someone who practices Islam, and submits to the will of God. The central text of Islam is the Quran, which is believed by Muslims that it is the word of God revealed by the messenger Muhammad. Especially in older texts Islam might be referred to as Muhammadism, like Christianity, but this is incorrect because the Muslims didn’t view Muhammad as a divine figure but as someone God spoke through.
Ella - Muslims and Christians biggest difference is that muslims do not believe in the crucifixion or the resurrection. They also don’t believe that Jesus is the son of god. They belief he was only and early prophet. Muslims also believe in a system of 5 pillars. These pillars are made up of faith, prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage.
Emma - Islam is similar to Christianity in many ways. For example, they believe that Moses, Abraham, and Jesus were all doing God’s work. They also believe that parts of the Bible are indeed God’s word though they also believe that Muhammad is another of God’s messengers and that they word he conveyed is also divinely inspired.
Ben - The biggest figure in Islam is Muhammad, Muhammad was born in 570 BC, sadly his mother died in 576 BC and his grandfather died in 578 BC. He got married in 595 BC. After he saw revelations and visions from god he went down to the big cube and told everyone “hey your gods are fake” but as expected, everyone got mad at him so he had to move to a place with a Christian king. He went to where is now Ethiopia and preached his teachings.
Gabe - he started preaching in mecca and the Quraysh tribe did not like that so he moved to Medina or Yathrib and here he kind of became a spiritual ruler over the city
And they actually fight the quraysh tribe 3 to 1 because there's only about 300 of them and there's 900 quraysh and they win this battle and quraysh fight them again in the battle of uhud and now there’s 750 so they are building in numbers but there’s 3300
And the quraysh win and then they have another war which is the battle of the trench and they actually dug a trench around the city and they fought 3000 to 10000 so three to one again and the muslims won and this is all by account of the muslims though because they are the only record we have of that time
6.Ethan- Muslims consider Muhammad as the last person in the line of disciples. These disciples include, Moses, Abraham, and Jesus. Also, as soon as Muhammad was born most of the Middle East abandoned polytheism.
Skylar - the early part of Islamic faiths are center around revelations of the prophet, Muhammad. A lot of the revelations with Muhammad are about surrendering to god. Muslims believe that the Quran is the final testament.
Sunni and Shia Islam:
Ella - After the death of Muhammed, these two divisions known as Sunni and Shia came into play. 90% of the world's 1.6 billion muslims are Sunni and 10% are Shia. The word Sunni comes from the word Sunnah which is referring to Muhammad. The word Shia comes from Shi'atu ‘Ali which means followers of Ali.
Audrey - The general division, between the Sunnis and the Shias, is who should succeed Muhammad, after his death, as leader of the Muslim community. The Shias believe that members of Muhammad’s family, especially his descendants, should become leader. The Sunnis disagree, and believe that it doesn’t really matter who succeeds Muhammad.
Ben - As the divide gets more and more intense it causes the “Battle of the Camel” named after Aisha’s camel in 656 BC, then after that the “Battle of Siffin” happens merely a year after in 657 BC.
Gabe - the shias believe even more so that ali should be his successor after a speech saying he is mawla and ali is also mawla and when muhammad died his very close friend abu bakr takes his place and then umar and then uthman who is assassinated and ali finally takes his place
Emma - Ali became caliph in the year 656 AD, after the assassination of Uthman. At this time, Muawiya was the governor of Damascus and he felt that Ali was not putting in a full effort to punish the people who commited the crime. Because of this, he refuses to pledge his allegience to Ali. This started the Fist Fitna, or first Muslim civil war.
Skylar - Muhammad was born in the year 570. He starts having revelations to god in the year 610, the Muslim calendar doesn’t start until 622 though. Muhammad married Khadijah and had several kids with her, one being named, Fatimah. Fatimah then married Ali, the son of Abu Talib. That’s where the word shi’atu ali comes from.
7.Ethan- The Shia are mainly based in places like Iraq and Iran, but are spread throughout the world itself. As you can probably guess, the Sunni are in many different places, since 9/10 Muslim are Sunni. Much blood was spilled through these 2 denominations throughout time..

Age of Islam:
Ella - The Islamic Empire Grew as it obtained information from other civilizations such as the Byzantine and Persian empires. The collected knowledge and cultural ideas from surrounding empires and people they would meet around their area such as the Indians and the Chinese.
Audrey - They collected and obtained this information all throughout the Umayyad dynasty but most of it happened during the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasid Caliphate built Baghdad and moved the of the empire there.
Ben - In 786 Al-Ma’mun was born, but later in his life (813 BC) he created the Baghdad house of wisdom. The baghdad house of wisdom contained almost all advanced human knowledge from at the time, from mathematics to astronomy, the house of wisdom contained all great wisdoms, even those that were fictional such as poetry.
Gabe - they built baghdad right on the route between europe and asia making it the place a prime spot to trade in allowing the abbasids very wealthy because they imported all sorts of good like silk glass tile paper ivory soap honey diamonds
Emma - During this time, something called the translation movement took place. Some of the caliphs like al-Rashid and al-Ma’mun wanted to make popular Greek texts accessible to the Arab world, so they encouraged scholars to translate Greek works into Arabic. They were trying to preserve the thoughts of great scholars such as Aristotle.
6.Ethan- The Abbasid Dynasty built Baghdad which is the capital of Iraq. While this was not always so, Damascus was the original capital city. At the time, this was the perfect place for the capital, for it was by the Tigris and Euphrates river. Thus made is ideal for crop production which allowed larger population.
Skylar - Al-Kwarizmi was a persian mathematician who studied at the house of wisdom. Al-Kwarizmi is the inventor of algebra. The word algebra comes from the Arabic word al-jabr. He also created the Hindu numerals.
The Great Schism:
Audrey - Emperor Nero had these purges of Christians like the Roman fire or fire of rome in 64 ad. Nero blamed the Christians for the fire and was lighting them alive for punishment. Many historians believe that the apostles Peter and Paul were killed in these purges.
Ben - Around the early 4th century a new emperor comes along and we’ve talked about him previously, Constantine. But today I’m going to go more in depth into Constantine’s life. He was born in 280 AD. His father was the previous western emperor before him, being made emperor in 305 AD. At Constantine’s thirties he was fighting for power within the western region, becoming victorious and being crowned emperor in 312 AD, and later became emperor of not just western rome but all of it in 324. He instilled multiple laws protecting christian people and converted to christianity/was baptised on his deathbed. He died in 337 AD.
Gabe - after constantine there was theodosius who made christianity the main religion of rome and persecuted other religions he was also the last to rule both sides of rome when he died the germanic tribes took the west side of rome leaving justinian to the east side who conquered modern day italy back from the germanic tribes leaving the germanic tribes with modern day france and modern day germany and modern day france is owned by the franks the tribe of france which is why you have french and german but they were actually just german to begin with
Ella - The Christians of the time were missionaries, going around and spreading their beliefs to other Roman Civilizations. In some cases families were split apart when half of the family decided to abandon Roman practices.
Emma - Under the rule of Justinian, there was a power struggle in the Roman Empire. There were many people who possessed large amounts of power with different titles. There was obviously the Emperor, but then there was also the Bishop of Rome, now known as the Pope, who considers himself to somewhat the head of Christianity. There were also several other patriarchs across the Empire who held power and influence over the people.
Skylar - Christianity started from the Roman Empire, it started from a jewish sect in Judea and Galilee, from early ministries. Going into the third century christianity was becoming pretty big. There were more purges. In 312 Constantine wins the battle at Milvian Bridge, and shortly after christianity becomes legal, and the christians are no longer persecuted for doing something they believe in.
Ethan- The Holy Roman Empire was called this by Voltaire, “It is neither holy, nor an empire”. This Voltaire was a french Enlightenment writer/speaker. Otto der Grosse or Otto the Great was a Roman emperor who originated in Germany. He unified the Empire around the 10th century. It started to split around the 11th century.
The Crusades:
Gabe - it was called the crusades because it was a war but from the pope so the pope wanted some land and he convinced a mighty Lord to go fight for him and his land so he goes and dies of starvation there and nevers sees his land again
Audrey - Crusades were wars but they were considered just warfare. A war could be considered just if it had a just cause legitimate authority and the right intention.
Ella - Eventually after losing a lot of territory, the Byzantine Empire was able to take back some of the Anatolian Peninsula from a muslim group called the Seljuk Turks. Supposedly, the crusades were made for the Byzantine Empire to get back the territory they lost, but the crusades usually took the land for themselves.
Skylar -The Byzantine empire was losing the holy land, as the Arabians started to overrun it. Crusades were wars declared by the pope. Pope Urban II told all the christians they need to fight against the muslims to get the holy land back, and whoever fights will be forgiven of their sins.
Emma - The crusades made a big impact on the expansion of European kingdoms and territories. In the north and est, crusading helped to expand parts of the Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark. It also influenced the establishment of new political systems like Prussia.
Ben - The one they hired to lead the charge against the Muslims that were taking over Jerusalem was Pope Urban II. This took place in 1095. His famous speech hat launched the crusades was, “Under Jesus Christ, our Leader, may you struggle for your Jerusalem, in Christian battle line, [that] most invincible line, even more successfully than did the sons of Jacob of old—struggle, that you may assail and drive out the Turks, more execrable than the Jebusites, who are in this land, and may you deem it a beautiful thing to die for Christ in that city in which he died for us. But if it befall you to die this side of it, be sure that to have died on the way is of equal value, if Christ shall find you in his army”
7.Ethan- The First Crusade was Jerusalem’s first military order. These military orders were more of taking on things like communal poverty, chastity, and obedience. But also violence… lots of violence… for the Christian faith of course. Examples consist of the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights.
8.

Medieval Japan:
Gabe - medieval japan becomes a militaristic japan and it gets kind of fragmented and doesn't get reunited till around the modern period every wonder why japanese and chinese is a lot alike because the japanese borrowed many ideas from the chinese because there so close together china was like your older sibling influencing you
Skylar - The Heian period was a golden age for Japan. The Heians were very powerful. The Heian period was known for architecture, culture, arts, and philosophy. They had amazing cultural advancement for their time, around the year 1000. The women had a say in thing, like emperial arts. Lady Murasaki is known as the first novelist. A Shogun is a military dictator, the first Shogun was Minamoto Yuritomo.
Audrey - China had a huge influence on Japan even though China never conquered Japan because of how close they are Japan borrowed many ideas from China in the Classical period. Japanese rulers sent delegations to China in the 7th century to better understand what the Chinese do to run their government.
Ella - In the time he ruled, Oda Nobunaga took advantage of guns. He was able to use them to put most of the other lords into submission. He also worked towards unifying Japan. The next two rulers Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued working towards unify Japan.
Ben - (Y’all better be ready for me to correct your pronunciation since I’m learning Japanese. Nah Jk) The capital of Japan during the heian period was Heian-kyo (today’s Kyoto). Also another little fact about the golden age of Japan was that woman that were in the family of very important political figures had a significant amount of power themselves, unlike other civilizations like Rome. Japan in its early state was famous for taking things and ideas from other people and making their own version. This is how they became one of the first truly industrialized countries.
Emma - The structure of Medieval Japan under the Bakufu system, or shogunate, was actually very similar to a lot of the European systems, and was even called a feudal system by some. In this time, the position of Emperor still existed, but all the power belonged to the Shogun who was a sort of military leader. Under the shogun there were several daimyo, which could be compared to lords. Beneath them was the warrior class of samurai, which are very similar to the knights of europe.
Ethan- The Edo period is named for the castle Edo. This castle was ruled by the Tokuwaga shogunate which is still going. The shogun is at the top of the chain which how the bakufu system normally works. This system is considered the reason Japan began to be unified.
Maya, Aztec, and Inca
Skylar - The Aztec Empire starts to form when Azcapotzalca gets in a civil war, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan for a triple alliance and conquer Azcapotzalca. The Aztec empire was very small at the time with only three city-states. The Inca empire called themselves the Tawantinsuyu, they called their ruler Inca.
Gabe - after a while in the Aztec empire Tenochtitlan which was once the weaker city state before in entered the aztec empire actually became the capital of the Aztec empire and the Aztec empire is actually around for another hundred years
When hernando cortes comes and conquered it in 1521
Audrey - The Aztec civilization and the Aztec empire are different from each other because the Aztec civilization was made up of broad groups of people over hundreds of years where the Aztec empire was a very specific entity that was formed in the hundred years before the Spanish colonization.
Ella - Hernando Cortes was able to convince several hundreds of conquistadors to conquer empires for him. He collected people from neighboring city states who were having problems with the Mexico or Aztec Empires. He eventually took over the city of Tenochtitlan and it became a very advanced civilization.
Ben - One of the biggest ways the English were able to conquer ancient Mexico was with the bringing of smallpox which the native Americans never really had before. Even before they started calling themselves the Inca, they already had a sort of advanced civilization. They taxed their citizens, but not in a traditional way, since they didn’t use a coin or currency system, citizens had to dedicate some of their working time to the government.
Emma - The advancements of Inca Empire are on their own monumental, but to put it into perspective, from the historical evidence we currently have, there is no proof that the Incas had a written language. They did have a system of knots that they used, but that was the extent of and record keeping.
Ethan- The Mayans were well known for their astronomics, mathematics, and their calendar. Their civilization was based in southeastern Mexico and Guatemala. There was also El Salvador, Belize, and Honduras.

That’s all the time we have for today. THank for joining us outside of the box that is learning.
38 min
October 05, 20182.3 Continuation of Secondwave Civilizations
600 BCE - 600 CE Early Americas:
Skylar - The Mayan Civilization is one of the longest lasting civilizations in world history. It is believed that the Mayan Civilization began as early as 2000 BCE . The first city-states started as soon as 750 BCE. These city-states not only had a political leader but also a spiritual leader. In the north there was the Yucatan Peninsula and to the south the Sierra Madre Mountain range. The Mayan civilization was where modern-day southeast Mexico is. The calendar the Mayans came up with was actually more accurate than the calendar Julius Caesar came up with.
Ella - Around 250 in the common era, there was a time known as the classical period. Around this period a lot of big cities came into place like Tikal and Calakmul. We believe that these cities had around 50,000 to 100,000 people at their best. Supposedly they were not one empire, but it was more separate like the greek city states, but still the bigger cities might have influenced some of the smaller states decisions.
Gabe - Back to the calendar so the Mayan calendar actually said the earth started on August 11, 3114 bc and ended on december 22, 2012 and since we are now in 2018 it obviously didn't end and it didn't end because it was like a odometer so it rolls over from 000000 to 999999 and then back to 000000 so most people thought the world was going to end december 22, 2012 because that's when the Mayan calendar ended but it didn't end on August 11, 3114 bc the calendar was set at 000000 and on december 22, 2012 it changed back to 000000 so instead of ending it just reset
Emma - Between 300 and 600 AD a huge and extremely complex city called Teotihuacan existed northeast of what is now Mexico City. The name Teotihuacan was given to it by the Aztecs when the discovered it long after its fall. We actually have to written records or art from the city itself though through other archeological methods historians were able to determine that it likely was inhabited by around 200,000 people. People believe that it held direct power over the surrounding 10,000 square miles and used armies to colonize as far as 600 miles away.
5.Hunter- The Maya, group of people who lived in Mesoamerica after the Olmec, lived in what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and El Salvador. Large Mayan cities started to rise throughout these areas, the local lords struggled for power and access to trade routes and goods.
Audrey - Something that is different about the America’s from other civilizations is that in western South America now where Peru is wasn’t based around a river. Instead they had the humble current and the water had a bunch of nutrients so there were lots of fish for the people to eat and they could grow food.
Ben - The Nazca civilization was also a very interesting part of western america, around southwest peru. The nazca are famous for drawing things in the ground around a third of a kilometer in size (or over nine hundred fifty feet), these things were named the “Nazca Lines”. This was around 200 BCE.
Ethan - The early Andes were based around modern day Peru and Bolivia. Their society faced problems including that the mountain-based structure of the Andes was.

600 BCE - 600 CE Empires in India:
1.Ella - The Maurya Empire was one of the greatest empires of world history. It emerged because a man by the name of Chandragupta Maurya conquered the nanda empire, many territories formerly conquered by Alexander the Great, and a large amount of land from the Greeks. Chandragupta eventually left his empire in the hands of his son bindusara.
2.Skylar - I’m going to talk about the Gupta dynasty. The gupta dynasty was started by Sri Gupta around 240. But didn’t become i guess you could say popular until about 320 when Chandragupta the first took over. Chandragupta was given some of the Gupta dynasty to control because he married princess Kumaradevi.
(if someone has anything more to add on please do, didn’t want to take all the info)
Gabe - I'm going to continue on the Maurya Empire bindusara ruled from 297 bc to 272 bc when he died this led to war bindusara's sons both wanted to be king Ashoka one of bindusara's sons won taking the empire and later on becoming the most successful and powerful ruler of the Maurya dynasty
Emma - The Mauryans had a huge army consisting of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 Calvary, and 9,000 war elephants. This was the largest and strongest military force in the world in its time. This army was a great recourse for the Mauryan Empire And was a big factor in their ability to expand their territory and defend themselves from those who tried to attack.
Audrey - Unlike many other empires the Gupta Empire’s big thing wasn’t that they conquered a bunch of land it was because they could conquer and obtain that territory they had the power to sponsor a culture with art. This was called the Golden Age of India.
Ben - A few different important historical figures of the Maurya empire are Kalidasa and Aryabhata. I’ll start with Kalidasa, he was a incredibly skilled writer of the time and was mostly known for being the best writer that ever used Sanskrit. (the language they used) And Aryabhata was one of the first scientists that was able to calculate 5 digits of pi. He also knew that the earth rotated on an axis based on how he saw the sky move every day. He predicted how the moon reflected light from the sun.
Hunter- The large army was made possible slightly through the intricate web of administration. One of Chandragupta’s advisors instituted some detailed procedures which Ashoka inherited. Ashoka started a capital at the walled city of Pataliputra, which served as a centralized hub for the empire. Officials made decisions about how to collect taxes for the central treasury, which funded the military and other government jobs

600 BCE - 600 CE Early Hinduism:
Gabe - Hinduism was a polytheistic belief which is where they believed in more than one god a few hindu gods were agni indra shiva brahma vishnu and ganesha which these are regarded as the most important gods shiva is seen as the god of destruction and vishnu the god who creates stuff from shiva's destruction
Emma - Historically speaking, Hinduism is different from many other religions because there is no clear origin or originator of the practice of the religion. We do know that it started kooas a tradition in the upper class of the Aryan empire, which made it difficulta to access for the lower classes. However it was made more accessible and popular over time.
Ella - there was a civilization called the Indus Valley Civilization and it eventually collapsed for an unknown reason. It may have been a change in the weather that they couldn’t handle, or drying up of there water source that they relied on. Other possibilities are natural disasters or influence from surrounding civilizations.
Audrey - Hinduism is one of the oldest religions beginning about 5000 years ago. It shows some of the elements practice in the Indus Valley civilization and is still a practiced religion today.
5.Hunter- During the Gupta empire from about 320 to 550 CE emperors used hinduism as a linking religion to link the nations together, in which also helped popularise it by creating hindu educational systems; they also gave land to the brahmins. The Gupta emperors helped make Hinduism one of the most popular religions in the indian subcontinent.
Ben - There are a lot of connections between languages that formed english and sanskrit. A lot of english words can be traced back to the ancient sanskrit language.
600 BCE - 600 CE Early Buddhism:
Gabe - Siddhartha Gautama the founder of buddhism was born 563 bce into a wealthy family he rejected his life of riches and embraced a lifestyle of asceticism, or extreme self discipline after 49 days of consecutive meditation he became the enlightened one which is the buddha he made this announcement in public got some people to train as buddha monks and taught his teachings throughout the world
Emma - Buddhism was based around a group of guiding principles called the four noble truths. They were as follows; “there is suffering in life”, “the cause of suffering is desire”, “ending desire means ending suffering”, and “following a controlled and moderate lifestyle will end desire”. A strong component of this religion was that everyone was responsible for their own happiness.
Audrey - Buddhism and Hinduism were founded it on similar things. One of the things Buddhism was founded on was something that Siddhartha (or Buddha) said, and that was to pretty much stay in the middle ground to not go with either extreme of so much physical self-pleasure or mistreating yourself.
Ella - Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautama, was born in Ludini. His aunt took care of him because his mother died not long after he was born. His father was a chieftain and he was able to give Gautama a good protected childhood away from all the bad things of the world like sickness and poverty. He eventually got married and had a kid.
5.Hunter-Buddhism also also gained support from the state. In 260 BCE, king Ashoka adopted Buddhism after war against the feudal of Kalinga. He wanted to renounce violence and publicity so he turned to Buddhism to achieve this. He may have also turned to Buddhism as a unitive religion.
Ben - At the age of 29 Siddhartha was actually allowed to leave the land of the wealthy and once he left he saw sickness and poverty that he’d never seen before at any point in his life. So he leaves and goes into the woods for six years, leaving everything he had behind him. He eventually travels to Gaya and meditates under a sacred fig tree for seven whole days before he eventually reaches enlightenment. He then disappeared for 49 days, and later went to spread his knowledge with the world
600 BCE - 600 CE Syncretism:
Gabe - Syncretism is where so the merchants travel and trade goods but they also trade beliefs and religions and faiths so as you catch word of christianity and buddhism and both kind of morph together in a town you get syncretism which is why there is a christian grave in central asia with a chinese zodiac on it
Audrey - There were these “great thinkers” of the Hindu ascetic tradition, that Alexander the Great actually brought philosophers to meet with, called Gymnosophists. The word Gymnosophists means “the naked thinkers”, and they were called this because they were so devoted to the study of philosophy that they fasted and wore little to no clothing because they felt it got in the way on their pursuit to knowledge and wisdom.
Ella - The Christians at the time took advantage of the trade routes that were being made. Preachers and missionaries could spread these messages beyond the mediterranean region they lived in. They were successful because in the eleventh century one third of the worlds christians lived in Asia.
Ben - The Nestorian Stele was a big tablet of rock and stone that was buried at an estimated year of 845 (but it was thought to be made in 781). It had written on it a kind of early depiction of christianity in china. It was discovered in 1623.
5.Hunter- Early christians managed to turn the roman infrastructure to their advantage: missionaries used the vast land and roads to preach the good news of god further outside of the mediterranean region. By the eleventh century CE, fully one-third of the world’s christians lived in Asia.
Emma - The open practice of Christianity was not actually legal in Rome until the fourth century. At this time the current emperor, Constantine the first, said that he had a religious vision and made it legal. Near the end of the century, the emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of Imperial Rome.
600 BCE - 600 CE Women and families:
Gabe - in the classical era of 600 bc to 600 ce many systems and institutions were hard of Women and families Women didn't have all the rights men did this was true but there freedoms varied on the empire
Audrey - During the civil war in Rome, that occured after the Ides of March when Julius Caesar was assassinated, the triumvirs decided to tax 1400 of the wealthiest women to fund the war. One of these women, Hortensia, wrote a speech on how unfair this was and she pretty much said, why should the women pay taxes when they don’t get a share in things like the government.
Ella - In most societies, woman raised kids and managed households. How the woman carried out these things depended on the woman's kinship, or a word for family relationships, religion, and marriage. For example, in Han China a woman's power was based off her relationship with her husband.
Ben - Life for women varied depending on what religion the area was most dedicated to. For example, Confucianism had women in a place of submissiveness and didn’t allow them to do nearly anything outside their home. On the other hand Daoism the gentleness and humbleness of women was respected and seen as a positive thing. In Daoism, women could even be a teacher or a priest.
5.Hunter- In many societies, women’s lives was mainly about motherhood and managing a household. While women in different places and different times had this in common, there were significant differences on how women performed these roles depending on kinship relationships. skip me i realize i didn’t read right
Emma - In Han China, kinship was a part of a girl or woman’s life from the beginning. When she was young, her status and role were dependant on that of her father’s. At the time she got married, it was dependant on her husband. After her husband’s death, it was dependant on her oldest son.
600 BCE - 600 CE The Silk Road:
Gabe - the Silk Road was a trade route connecting eurasia and north africa but is was called the Silk Road because Silk was transported a lot through this route
Audrey - For trading you obviously have to give something in return so, some of the items China would get for their silk were horses, which were good not only for transport, being human or goods, but also for wars. They would get gold from Europe, cotton from India, and the list goes on.
Ella - Trade routes would carrie things like food, materials, beliefs and customs but also diseases. Two of the most significant diseases were measles and smallpox. Both of these were believed to have come from asia and the middle east.
Ben - But as people were moving from place to place, culture was also “traded” as christianity and buddhism spread very quickly. They did this through missionaries and trading. Later on in the first century CE silk had become a problem, it was becoming thinner and wearing out, eventually becoming so thin and transparent that in 14 CE they banned people from wearing it.
5.Hunter-One cause of expandable trade was because of the growth in imperial power. Near the end of the second century BCE, Emperor Wu of Han mounted multiple campaigns against the nomadic Xiongnu people, because of Xiongnu horse riders raided chinese settlements along the northern border for many years.
Emma - Silk was not the only item that was traded, at least in the minds of those people, too much. Ferghana horses, or heavenly horses as they were known, were strongly desired in China. They imported so many of them that the Dayuan people who owned the Ferghana valley refused to sell any more of them. This caused the War of the Heavenly Horses which lasted three years.
That’s all the time we have for today. THank for joining us outside of the box that is learning.
31 min
October 02, 20182.2 Second Wave Civilizations
Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students.

600 BCE - 600 CE Second-Wave Civilizations

Ancient Persia: 600 BCE -
Gabe - Ancient persia or the achaemenid persia which was called this because the ruler cyrus’s great great grandfather's name was achaemenid and he started as a small independant city under the medes for protection and then cyrus got in an argument with his grandfather Astyages and won taking over persia he then established a system by capturing and relocating and adding a power over every city by accomplishing this he claimed the name Cyrus the great
Audrey - The Persians didn’t actually use the name “Persian”, instead they called themselves Aryans. They called where they lived Aran (there are other variations of the name) which make the modern version of the name, Iran, probably more accurate. This is similar to how the Greeks referred to their homeland as Hellas, while the name Greece was a Latin idea.
Ben - Cyrus, the ruler of Persia then proceeded to conquer various empires such as the Median empire, the Lydian empire in around 540 BCE, and he eventually got his hands on the neo-babylonian empire in 539 BCE. But while Cyrus’s son Cambyses II is out trying to take hold of egypt and libya, another person comes along claiming to be bardiya, Cyrus’s second son. So Cambyses has to rush back to Persia to make sure the throne is not taken from him but dies on the way there. No one really knows how Cambyses or Cyrus died specifically though. (BTW note for other people, shahanshah is pronounced shaw-on-shaw)
Ella - Cyrus was a military commander but he realized that he needed the regions he conquered to stay in good economic order if he wanted them to provide him with economic tribute revenues. To achieve his goals he left rulers in the areas that he conquered after he conquered them.
Skylar - Persia was one of the greatest empire and civilization in the world. The Achaemenid empire at its peak had about 50 million people. Thats half of the people that were in the world at that time, according to historians. The Achaemenid Dynasty/empire ends when Greece unifies under Philip of Macedon in early to mid century bce. Alexander the Great wanted to mix their cultures but he dies so they split again.
Emma - In ancient Mesopotamia when they conquered a nation they would break up their political and cultural systems so that they wouldn’t be a threat. Though when Cyrus came into power he switched it, allowing those he conquered to keep their separate societies in a tributary state. While it seemed like he was being kind, he most likely was trying to keep their loyalty.
- Ethan - As Cambyses died in 522 BCE, he was succeeded by a general titled “Darius”. Darius claimed that he was slightly related to Cambyses II but many other people challenged Darius’s throneship. This resulted, in some places, rebellion against the Achaemenids. Darius soon made himself to be the clear ruler Persia and re established rule of the rebels. He also reorganized the empire into satrapies, and for each satrapy there would be a satrap.
600 CE Classical Greece:
Gabe - If you didnt know its called Classical Greece and Ancient Persia because Persia was in the Ancient Era and Greece is in the Classical era so Classical Greece cities were built between mountains in valleys and on coastal plain so by the sea there was a time somewhere around 1200 bce they were in this war called the trojan war there's a story of a huge horse called the trojan horse it was in these wars so in this war this guy named homer he said that people came from the sea while they were having the trojan war and they were attacking them and driving them off the coast so they built these city states called polis which were like fortified cities so the people could have protection
Audrey - The Greek Peninsula has been settled by humans for thousands of years, but an important part of Greek history starts when the Mycenaean Empire falls and the Greek Dark Ages begin. It is called the “Dark Ages” because there really aren’t many historical records from that point in time, and that was around 1100-800 BC. The major events happened in the exiting of the Greek Dark Ages, and this is when things that Ancient Greece is really known for began, like the Oracle at Delphi and the Olympic Games. (if someone wants to explain these)
Ben - The difference between sparta and athens was that in sparta social status wasn’t decided based on how much money you had or how smart you were, it was about your military ranking. The spartans political system was unique in that it had two kings that were from different families that ruled. But on the lower side of the political rankings was the helots. Helots were like slaves but had more freedom, helots still had families but they had to work for the state and couldn’t really do anything else. Helots were still considered owned but they were owned by the state. Helots were collected from the villages sparta pillaged.
Emma - Greece’s structure was was pretty different from other societies at the time. While the desperate colonies(?) all recognized the “mother” city-state, they were all independent for the majority of the time. Their shared religion and culture was what gave them all a sense of unity.
Ella - Ancient Greece was made up of many independent city states because of Greeces complicated geography. All of these communities were separated by mountains, hills, and water. Greece wasn't a unified nation, instead it was a bunch of connected communities that shared religion and beliefs.
- Ethan - The kings of Sparta were priests of Zeus and they were included in a gerousia, or council of elders, which was the highest court of Sparta. Also, there was an executive committee consisting of 5 ephors which were chosen by the people, of the people.
Skylar - The name Greece is not what people that live in Greece call it. They call it Hellas. Nowadays they don’t call it Greece and back in the “Ancient Greece” days they didn’t say Greece they said Hellas. The word Hellas comes from Hellen, viewed as the progenitor. The Hellastic people are the people that live in Greece. In late 6th century BCE Athens was the dominant economic power. Athens was full of wealth as silver was just founded in the mountains around the area. Athens had an amazing trading system with other Greek city-states. Trading with other city-states was super important to Athens because it didn’t have the agricultural conditions to supply enough grain for its population. A series of laws were written and put in place by a statesman named Draco around 621 BCE. They didn’t stay too long because they were super harsh. Another man named Solon was called to change the laws, he created a series of laws that equalized political power.
Hunter- Ancient Greece consisted of over hundreds of different independent city-states, somewhat due to the geography of Greece. Greece communities were separated by mountains, hills, and water. Rather than one large nation, Ancient Greece was more like a system of communities with a shared language and religion that sometimes led to a common sense of belonging.
600 BCE - 600 CE The rise and fall of empires:
Gabe - I'm going to start by saying an empire is a small city or state that claims a large amount of land which is usually broke up into provinces empires rise and fall for different reasons they usually expand through military conquest which is how the romans the persians and the Maurya empire in india expanded but they progressed in different ways the Maurya empire political sabotage and religious conversion so the people turn against their own country
Audrey - An empire forms when a ruler, that already controls some territory, gains control of more territory for whatever reason, and that could be from military tactics, a weak neighboring area or really anything like that. Once the ruler has that territory under their control, they gain land and people. With the power they now have, this ruler could tax the people for their own wealth and/or use them for a better army. The empire could then keep expanding in this way until it collapsed.
Ben - After the fall of the Qin dynasty the Han empire began to rise because of all the power that was up for grabs. The Han dynasty began in 206 BCE. They revived the way of Confucianism to unite the people and give them more reasons to fight and become a larger empire. Han china started to fall in 2nd century CE and eventually reached its demise in 220 CE, it mainly fell because of a religious divide between the people and the natural disasters that caused food shortages which snowballed into a bad economy.
Ella - Empires all grow for different reasons whether its strong military, political sabotage, or religious conversation, but the Romans were not out to conquer territory. They did get involved in several wars but after they defeated their enemies they would offer their victims a small amount of citizenship in return for loyalty to the Roman empire.
Emma - There are also several different factors that can lead to the fall of an empire. Each of these factors will usually reflect those that led to the rise of the empire. Things such as a economic collapse, the weakening of military forces, or the death/assassination of a leader are common causes of a fall.
- Ethan - A common example of an empire falling is Persia. The Achaemenid empire had internal issues already but had structure still. In 334 BCE Alexander attacked and in 4 years general Darius the Third lied dead. He was actually killed by one of his own generals and when the throne lied empty Alexander took the reins.
Skylar - The rise of empires is great everyone’s all happy, then usually right when everything gets normal, the empire falls for different reasons. Rather it’s they have no more money, they get taken over by another empire, or another reason. The Roman empire took hundreds of years to create. They had weak neighbors so it was easy for them to take over that area.
Hunter-The fall of an empire can be because of an outbreak of war and rebellion, when an empire falls so does its military for a few months to years in which leaves them wide open for follow up attacks. Normally however when an empire is defeated it is overrun by the kingdom/empire that attacked.
600 BCE - 600 CE Empire of Alexander the Great:
Gabe - Alexander the great was kind of an i want everything kind of guy no but wherever he went he conquered very good at military strategy lets skip a little real quick after he died his successors made a coin with him on it with horns which were marking him as a deity which means he was a huge role model you could say a symbol of power he was the man people looked up to he was actually only 5 to round 5’8 but that was normal for them because they didn't eat as much meat as other empires.
Audrey - Alexander III, better known as Alexander the Great, was 20 years old when his extremely short reign began, lasting only 12 years. For how short his reign was, Alexander was very successful, especially when it came to conquering. Just like his reign, Alexander’s life was very short, ending in 323 BC when he was only 32 years old. Some people say he died from alcohol poisoning, some say it was from direct poisoning, but it is likely that he could have died because of a disease.
Ella - A man known as Philip of Macedon came to power in 359 BC. His father had previously been the king of Macedon. Both of his older brother died which left him to be a regent for his infant nephew. He eventually possessed full power and ended up taking over a large majority of Greek city-states. He went on to almost unify all of them.
Ben - Philip is later killed at his daughter’s wedding, by his royal bodyguard Pausanias in 336 BCE at the capital of macedonia, Aegae. This caused his son alexander to take control of the large kingdom that philip left behind. The one who assassinated tried to run away to his associates outside but tripped on a vine and got killed by philips. bodyguards
Emma - Shortly after his father’s death, Alexander was crowned king and he eliminated any potential threats to his rule. The Greek city-states were now under his control. He then began his conquest of the Persian Empire which his father Philip had been planning before his untimely demise.
Skylar - in 5th century BCE Greece started with the Persian invasion and ended with Peloponnesian war. Alexander the Great was one of the most powerful conquers in human history. Alexander the Great started off by taking control over his father’s empire after his death. Alexander wanted to do what his father wanted to do before he died, which was conquer the persian empire. So he put one of his generals, Antipater in charger of Greece. Alexander leads his troops on the greatest adventures of all time. Alexander won the battle at Granicus river, then Issus, Darius the third tries to negotiate but Alexander kept saying no, he wants to be the king of Asia. Eventually darius and alexander meet at Guagamela and alexander wins again. Darius’ empire was falling and what making the falling more official is when alexander takes his troops to Achaemenid, which is the capital of Persepolis and alexander defeats them once again.
- Ethan - After Alexander’s father’s death, Alexander started focusing on India. He won some battles before he made it to the Ganges River. He planned to cross the Ganges to get to the rest of India. His tired troops decided that it was to much work and that they were already tired so they refused to go. In the end they turned home, and in 323 BCE, Alexander died to, what was most likely, disease.
Hunter- In the Kingdom of Thrace, during the reign of Lysimachus- a successor of Alexander the Great who lived from 361 BCE to 323 BCE, a coin was issued. The coin had Alexander’s face with ram horns on each side of his crown, the ram horns were a symbol of an Egyption God known as Amun or Zeus, who is often combined with Amun- from whom Alexander claimed descent. Flanked with these horns, Alexander had the reputation of a Deity.
600 BCE - 600 CE Rise of Rome: 600 BCE -
Gabe - the Rome empire came to power when a group of noblemen were like ok the king sucks he's out and so they kicked him out and made the two consuls which were two people which were pretty close to a king except one could veto the others actions this was so one person could not be oh so powerful They also split the people into plebeians and patricians which were plebeians being common folk and patricians being people of noble blood This was the roman republic
Audrey - Legend has it, Rome was named after Romulus, one of twin brothers that are abandoned and raised by a “she-wolf”. Eventually, Romulus kills Remus (his twin brother) and becomes the first king of Rome. Other historians now think that it was the other way around, that the city of rome needed a founding story, and the whole thing was just that, a story.
Ben - Rome was founded in 753 BCE (even though it’s mostly a myth and most believe in was founded a little later). Rome then founds the Rome Republic, a state in central rome, making them a little more influential in 509 BCE. Then much later than that the Punic wars happened between Rome and Carthage and consisted of three wars. The first war took place from 264-241 BCE, the second from 218-201 BCE, and the third from 149-146 BCE. in total it lasted from 264 to 146. Rome ended up winning and destroying and conquering Carthage.
Ella - The Romans did not plan to build an empire but it came upon them as they ran into conflict with the surrounding city-states, kingdoms, and empires. They had to find a way to use the territories they conquered. Most of the places the Romans conquered were allowed to keep the political and cultural ways they had, the only requirement was that they provide soldiers for the Roman Empire.
Emma - The politics of Rome reflected the structure of their society; it too was divided into the two social classes, patricians and plebeians. Those in the upper class were allowed to hold political office, and then become a senator, but those of the lower class were not. However, the plebeians were able gain more political influence over time.
- Ethan - The political system of Rome was mainly based on military rank/power. The “Comitia Centuriata” which was named for the century, was pretty much a group of 100 soldiers. Although, this 100 person unit was the base amount of people, it was not always exact in real situations.
Skylar - I’m going to talk about the Punic wars that went on between Rome and Carthage. The Punic wars consist of three major battles, The first one lasted 23 years, from 264 BCE-241 BCE. It was at Agrigentum it was over the island of Sicily. Rome wins most smaller battles. Then Carthage leaves. Rome wanted Carthage to pay them for the damages. Rome built a stronger navy. 240 to 248 BCE there was a Mercenary war. The second Punic war was between 218-201 BCE. The third and final war was between 149-146 BCE where Rome basically destroys Carthage, ending a 700 year long war.
8.Hunter- Rome went from a city in the middle of the italy peninsula to one of the strongest empires in history.
600 CE From Roman Republic to Roman Empire:
Gabe - in 27 bce a guy named augustus caesar came and was like nope im the ruler “emperor” so basically the king and he started an autocratic government which is where he was the guy who called all the shots he didn't expand rome much in his time but he did do some things that changed the political and economic structure of rome
Audrey - Gaius Julius Caesar’s life really marked the transition between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, even though, in his lifetime, Rome was still a republic and never actually considered an empire. The reason I say this is the unofficial time that the transition occurred is, that at the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman Republic’s structure very much resembled the structure of an empire, so it kind of seems like it already switched.
Ben - Julius Caesar then illegally crosses the rubicon and most of rome’s senators choose to move over to greece. This causes a sort of civil war between rome and greece. After Julius crosses the rubicon the senators send a popular general Pompey to go fight with his soldiers but they decide to retreat because they thought julius’s army was unbeatable. Then the other senators also retreat, giving julius control of rome again. But it would be only a matter of time before the senators return to try and retake rome.
Ella - Julius Caesar was assassinated, and in his will he stated that his nephew Octavian would be his adopted son. Too other men Antony and Lepidus were big supporters of Caesars and they got together with Octavian to form a triumvirate, which was known as the second triumvirate. Unlike the first triumvirate which was between Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, this triumvirate had legal backing. These three men gained lots of power over the Roman republic.
Emma - The power he gained was not limited to the prolonged time in which he held office. A major part of it was that he now had complete control over the military, unlike before when the elected consuls served as commanders. He was also now the high priest, or Pontifex Maximus, and in charge of the census for taxation. He kept these powers by acting like they were still separate offices that could be held by someone else.
- Ethan - Roman money/currency wasn’t exactly economy based but politically based as well. Julius Caesar was the first emperor to put his face on currency and since then emperors of Rome have done this. Before Caesar, only deceased Romans and Roman gods were on currency. This strengthened the connection of the emperor and the economy while popularizing the current emperor. These emperors used this systems to popularize the next candidate they favored.
Skylar - The Roman Empire began in 27 BCE when Augustus became the main ruler. Augustus is Julius Caesar’s adopted son. He never took the name king or emperor preferred to call himself princeps, first citizen, or primus inter pares. Augustus never expanded the territory because it was already as big as it could possibly get.
8.Hunter- The Roman Republic was a small city in Italy, after a large military growth and a gaining of power over many neighboring countries the Roman Republic quickly grew to the Roman Empire.
600 BCE - 600 CE The Roman Empire:
Audrey - Pax Romana is a name that a two hundred year long time period is often referred to as, and it means “Roman Peace”. This name came from the time when Octavian was emperor, which was from 27 BCE to 180 CE. It was a relatively good time for the Roman Empire, even though there was still quite a bit of conflict it was really a pretty peaceful time hence the name.
Gabe - it was a good time for the roman empire augustus caesar or Octavian had complete control over the military which was one of the ways he became the emperor
But the romans liked the belief of having military governments temporary which is why
He took control as a stand in governor of one of the provinces where the majority of roman legions were stationed giving him control over the military while still looking like he’s doing a favor for the people
Ella - Nero was a really bad guy. He was known for the fire in 64AD that a large amount of Romans died in. People think Nero started the fire to make room for a palace. Aside of that, he killed a lot of people including his own mom. He was also known for persecuting christians. Sometimes he would dip them in oil and set them on fire for a source of light in his garden.
Ben - After a few different anti-christian ruler come along, a new emperor decides to embrace christianity and his name was constantine. He was the first christian emperor and he even got baptised. Constantine also moves the capital more east and renames it to Constantinople.
- Ethan - Augustus was followed by Tiberius who was Augustus’s step-son. Both had relatively long careers as emperors. Augustus had a career lasting close to 40 years while Tiberius had a 24 year long career. Caligula, one of Augustus’s great nephews, was viewed as a sadist. While he was emperor for a while he was quickly assassinated, he had a lot of people killed during his term of about 4 years.
Emma - After the Julio Claudian Dynasty of Rome came the Flavian Dynasty. This dynasty began in 69 AD when Vespasian was made emperor by the senate after the defeat of Vitellius. He ruled for ten years until 79 AD when he died. He was then succeeded by his oldest son, Titus. This marked the first emperor of Rome to be followed by his own son. He ruled for only two years, until 81 AD when he died from an illness. His rule was then followed by his brother Domitian who held the position from 81 to 96 AD. This dynasty was known for building the colosseum and the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem.
Skylar - One of the most important pieces from Augustan, Rome is the Ara Pacis, Ara Pacis means altar of peace. Augustus was the first emperor of Rome. The Ara Pacis was basically rebuilt from the fragments they found, some from the 17th century, but most were from the 20th century. The altar was used for sacrifices. This Altar has a political and spiritual meaning.
8.Hunter- The Roman Empire was an extremely powerful empire capturing Jerusalem, Cannan, and i believe nearly one hundred other provinces.
600 BCE - 600 CE Ancient and Imperial China:
Audrey - The Shang Dynasty ended in 1046 BCE, when the Zhou (pronounced jo) Dynasty defeated the last Shang emperor, Di Xin, in the Battle of Muye. Historical records show that Di Xin had become a corrupt ruler, and the Zhous said they could only overthrow him because of the Mandate of Heaven which is an idea that if a ruler became incapable or corrupt the a guiding force in the universe would throw them out and replace them.
Gabe - Zhou empire did not last long though because the provinces were giving their support to the governor basically of their providence instead of the zhou emperor so slowly the states became more powerful than the emperor himself hence the warring states period
3.Ella - The Zhou Dynasty collapsed at a slow pace over hundreds of years. As this happened, rulers of the surrounding areas gained more power than the king. This was the beginning of a period that was known as the Warring State period, which lasted from about 475 BC to 221 BC. Nearby, Qin, a western state, conquered its surrounding states and established their own dynasty.
Ben - The Qin dynasty began to rise to it’s empire state in 221 BCE. The founder was Qin Shi Huang, a legalist (legalist is when law is enforced very strictly) that hated freedom of expression and freedom in general. A historian quoted him once about how he hates historians and wants all non-state historians that wrote history before Qin dynasty to be burned. “[Historians] hold it a mark of fame to defy the ruler, regard it as lofty to take a dissenting stance, and they lead the lesser officials in fabricating slander. If behavior such as this is not prohibited, then in upper circles the authority of the ruler will be compromised, and in lower ones, cliques will form. Therefore it should be prohibited. I therefore request that all records of the historians other than those of the state of Qin be burned.”
- Ethan - Many differing beliefs are made vocal during this time period. 3 of which are Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. Confucianism, created by Confucius, was based on reform of the status, class, and hierarchy systems. Legalism is more based off of strict laws and harsh punishments. Daoism is more of lawless following what they believe is right at the time.
Emma - Confucius, or Kongzi which means Master Kong. His teachings were almost entirely based around morality and having a personal sense of right and wrong. He wasn’t really teaching specific rules of what was good or bad, rather teaching people be conscious of the intent behind their actions.
Skylar - During the Warring States period in China from 475-221 BCE China was divided into seven competing nations. The fiefs were gaining more importance as the Zhou dynasty was ending and were becoming states. One of the 7 states were Qin. the other 6 states were Chu, Zhou, Wei, Han, Yan, and Qi. The first leader of Qin was King Zheng, later on he became Qin Shi Huangdi, he would also go on to be the first leader of the Qin dynasty. People say that the Qin dynasty ended the warring states period but it was really when Qin conquested the other states.
8.
600 BCE - 600 CE Early Judaism:
Audrey - Judaism stands out to historians because the Jews were monotheists, meaning they believed and worshiped only one God. This made the Jews unique to most other societies which were polytheistic and worshiped multiple Gods.
Gabe - The jews lived in the kingdoms of israel and judah the assyrians conquered these two empires and then the babylonians which was called the babylonian exile which sent allot of the jews out of these kingdoms
3 . Ella - In the Hebrew bible, It talks about Abraham moving from the city of Ur to Canaan with his family. It is Questionable whether the Ur they are talking about was the Sumatran city in lower Mesopotamia or a Ur in Upper Mesopotamia.
Ben - One of the most important jewish prophets was Moses. Moses was born at a time where the emperor was killing off every boy that is born because of his fear that if they grew too strong they would overtake him. To hide Moses from the emperor’s forces his mother put him in a basket and let him float down the river. The emperor/pharaoh’s daughter finds moses and raises him into the royal family, moses one day is enraged by a slaver beating a jewish slave and kills the slavemaster and retreats out of the city in fear of punishment. He goes to Mount Sinai but the Lord tells him to go back and free every Jewish slave. So he goes back and frees them and splits the red sea to escape. He brings the people back to the mountain where he receives the ten commandments. They then travel for 40 years and he reestablishes the jewish people in Canaan.
- Ethan - Jews lived under Roman rulers while still being allowed their own traditions. There was some Jewish revolting but mainly they were crushed every time. Soon after the Romans renamed Judea into Syria Palaestina. This destroyed the connection of the Jews to the land.
Skylar - Abraham is one of the significant patriarchs, the other two are Jacob and Isaac. Abraham’s first son is called Ishmael. He had Ishmael with his wife sarah’s servant because they didn’t think they could have kids. Ishmael is viewed as the progenitor, the patriarch for the arab people. According to biblical accounts Isaac was born when Sarah was in her 90s and Abraham was around 100 years old.
Emma - Abraham’s son Isaac was the second significant patriarch. He was the first one of the three to inherit the covenant that his father Abraham had received. Later in his life he married Rebekah who gave birth to their twin sons Jacob and Esau, Jacob being the last of the three patriarchs.

That’s all the time we have for today. THank for joining us outside of the box that is learning.
36 min
September 18, 20182.1 - 600 BCE Across the Continents
Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students.

Last time on the show...
Beginnings - 600 BCE

The origin of humans and early human societies: Beginnings -
Gabe - Prehistory is the history before it was written. Finding bones and doing tests like potassium argon dating or other methods to find the age was one of the ways we could see find prehistory. The tools they used and how the newer ones were perfected is another.
Ben- Anthropology is the study of ancient humans and their cultures. Everyone always talks about how old certain things are, but how is the information found? Radiocarbon dating is when you get a certain element called carbon 14 and and see how much of it has decayed back into nitrogen 14. So if half the carbon 14 has decayed, that means the item is 5730 years old. The radiocarbon method is a good indicator of how old something is.
Audrey - Written records are a main tool in learning the history of the people before us. These are, in some ways, more detailed than other forms of records, including archaeological and biological remains. That being said, written records can’t be the only thing taken into consideration; they could be biased or could be stories passed down generation after generation, slowly being changed to fit the current worldviews.
Emma - Many Paleolithic societies were communal. The members of a community, which were most often small, nomadic groups, worked together to perform various tasks. The women typically raised the children, gathered food, and cooked, whereas the men did the hunting, often in groups. However, in some communities, the work is thought to have been divided evenly between both women and men.
Ella - Early paleolithic societies did not have agricultural systems like we do today. They relied on tools they made to hunt animals. These societies would use tools made out of rocks such as handaxes. They used these for both hunting and digging. The other half of their diet consisted of natural fruits and vegetables they found in their environment.
Skylar - According to historians the first generations of “human” like people are called Homo Sapiens. Homo Sapiens were apart of a group called Hominids. Archaeologist and anthropologist believe that they were alive between 2.5 and 4 million years ago and lived in eastern and southern Africa.
Ethan - The anatomic structure of the people of today has existed for about 200,000 years. Egyptian hieroglyphs have been around for close to 5,000 years but America couldn’t even comprehend the hieroglyphs until 1799 when America found the Rosetta Stone. Even then when America had the Rosetta Stone it took quite a while to decipher it. And even after we began to comprehend hieroglyphs, we still had to hope no one would “change the story” to make it more interesting. And people still had altering views so deciding which was true caused more investigation. Thus, the Scientific Process.
Hunter- the study of human existence has been going on for multiple centries. The process has just evolved to even being able to find the year of when the creature and or early human existed and died.

600 BCE The Neolithic Revolution and the birth of agriculture: Beginnings -
Emma - The word Neolithic is derived from neo, meaning new, and the Greek word lithos, which translates to stone. It is the latter part of the stone age in which tools began to have a more smooth and refined appearance. Unlike before, these tools had complex shapes and purposes, and began to resemble the instruments used in more advanced societies.
Audrey - Since the birth of agriculture, Earth’s population has increased immensely. In the Paleolithic period, humans were primarily hunter-gatherers, and the population was roughly 10 million. Then 10 - 15 thousand years ago (13000 - 8000 B.C.) the Neolithic period came, and along with that, agriculture. Since plants and animals were now being domesticated, and more people could be fed, the population grew. By the time of the Roman Empire there were around 250 million people on Earth, and since then the population has grown to approximately 7 billion.
Gabe - There was different types of agriculture there was pastoralism which was the branch of agriculture that bred animals goat, sheep, cattle, and in this branch they collected food from there goats and cattle and probably wool from the sheep and milk from the cows and probably the goats too
Ella - Most early civilizations came together through religion, or beliefs and practices that associate with the meaning of the world. with This was how people who were not familiar with one another created trustworthy and respectful relationships. Religion was commonly associated with politics. Religious leaders commonly worked as political leaders as well.
Ethan - Agriculture was created so that the survivability of the human race would increase. The end of the most recent glacial period was about the same time that agriculture emerged. The reasoning behind this is that the soil had thawed so food could be grown in abundance.
Ben - There were a few different things being grown around the world. Stuff like barley, but also something less known called sorghum. Sorghum today is mostly used for animal food, but can also be used to create a kind of sweet syrup. Sorghum was being grown about the area sudan is at today and was probably being used as a normal grain in 9000-7000 BCE. There was also okra, black eyed peas, and yam around the west coast of africa. (Can talk about more different foods and where they’re from if needed)
Skylar -City-States couldn’t have been became created without agriculture. Most people would not be alive if it wasn’t for agriculture. Since agriculture has been created the plants (veggies) and animals (meat and milk). Thanks to irrigation vegetation can now be grown almost anywhere. The availability of human consumable calories per square kilometer has increased rapidly. People started farming in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey and went on to East Asia, mexico, and many more places.
Hunter- Neolithic Age is also known as the New Stone Age. However, it is closely connected to civilization, animal domestication, inventions, and agriculture. Stability in life opened new doors for man, as he ventured into domesticating animals rather than merely hunting them as per his need. He also invented pottery in this era, making it a symbol of the Neolithic era.
600 BCEAncient Mesopotamia: Beginnings -
Gabe - I'm going to start by saying Mesopotamia means country between to rivers so most the cities were born on the rivers tigris euphrates (which is what Mesopotamia is in between) the yangtze or the nile. They were born on these cities because the rivers would fertilize their crops bring water and transportation later on
Ella - The Sumerians were a group of people that started in Southern Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE. They wrote some of the first written scripts that were made of clay tablets. These ideas spread to surrounding civilizations which resulted in more languages being written. These languages are what today's alphabet was developed from.
Audrey - Mesopotamia was one of the first significant civilizations, and was located in what is now Iraq. The Sumerians are believed to be the first civilization to emerge in Mesopotamia (4000 B.C.). They are well known for the first development of the wheel (3500 B.C.), and for their architectural structures, like the ziggurats which were found in the center of many Sumerian and Mesopotamian cities.
Emma - Around 3000 BC the Sumerians came in contact with the Akkadians, named after the city-state of Akkad. About 700 years later, Sargon of Akkad came into power and is thought to have started the first dynastic empire. Both the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers were ruled by the Akkadian Empire until it’s fall in 2154 BC.
Ben - After the akkadian empire, a new empire began, and it was called the Babylonian empire. The Babylonians used to just be a small place in Akkadia (2300 BC), but grew into an empire. The leader of the Babylonian empire was Hammurabi. The Babylonians influenced the area in that they had a sort of law system that was based on religion. They spoke Akkadian. (1800-600 BC) from 1770- 1670 and from 612-320 BC babylon was estimated to be the largest city in population size in the world.
Skylar - The Pharaoh King Menes was able to unify upper and lower Egypt with the Eqyptian civilization. Hammurabi was famous for making the code of Hammurabi. He codified a series of laws.
Ethan - After the Sumerian and Akkadian empires formed, the Assyrian Empire formed about 1000 years later in northern Mesopotamia. Ashur was the capital of Assyria. Assyria was originally ruled by Sargon and his bloodline during the Akkadian Empire. After the end of the Akkadian empire Assyria became the major empire then.
8. Hunter- Mesopotamia was known in antiquity as a seat of learning, and it is believed that Thales of Miletus (c. 585 BCE, known as the first philosopher) studied there. As the Babylonians believed that water was the ‘first principle’ from which all else followed, and as Thales is famous for that very claim, it seems probable that he studied there.

600 BCEAncient Egypt: Beginnings - 600 BCE
Gabe - Egypt started next to the nile which is because it helps with many things as we talked about earlier there was the old egypt which was when the pyramids were built and this is the time we kind of think about when we think egypt but the pharaohs you think about were very far from the building of the pyramids and cleopatra actually lived 2500 years from the makings of the pyramids and 2037 from the making of the first iphone so she lived closer to the iphone
Ella - During the old kingdom period, Egypt was a single state. The country eventually became more complex and expanded their military. The kings of the time built formations such as Great Pyramid and the Sphinx of Giza. These structures were used as tombs or monuments for the kings that built them.
Emma - The Egyptian political system was based on the idea of divine kingship. They believed that the political ruler, or pharaoh, either held the favor of a god (or gods) or was in fact a living incarnation of the god themself. An example of this was Narmer who was thought to be Horus. This reinforced the authority of the current political figure in power.
Audrey - The Egyptian civilization was originally divided into upper and lower Egypt. The official beginning of the civilization was somewhere around 3100-3150 B.C. when the two parts of Egypt were united under one king.
Ben - As with most early civilizations, egypt was based around a river. When civilizations start around rivers it gives the people fresh water and a good source of water for agricultural purposes too. Even egypt’s seasons were based around the nile and how it affected crops and weather. The first season would be Akhet, which would now be around june-september and was based around the nile river flooding to provide water to crops. The second season was Peret, (Oct. - Feb.) where crops would be planted. The final season was called Shemu, (March - May) when everything would be harvested.
Skylar - The Nile River starts in mid-eastern Africa and goes all the way down to the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is one of the great rivers. It makes the soil around it rich. Like ben said for growing plants. Most of the population in Egypt is around or close by the multipurpose river. They have a season of harvest and it’s when the soil is most fertile for growing crops. The annual rain is very important because it adds another layer of extremely nutrient-rich soil that’s needed for the Shemu season.
Ethan - Wars had what seemed to be a major impact on the civil structure of Egypt. The costs include drought, famine, and disruption of Egyptian civilians. This kind of split Egypt into many different city-states. This allowed any city-state with the military power to take cities, as Kush conquered Lower and Upper Egypt. But soon the Kushites were kicked out of Egypt.
Hunter- nothing left to write T^T this is sad all info was sucked dry so please dont blame me

Ancient art and artifacts: Beginnings -
Gabe - One of the artifacts that was found was the standard of ur and no one knows for sure what it actually was but it has 2 sides to it and on one side you have basically peace and prosperity where it shows animals being taken to trade or sacrifice or eat were not really sure and it shows the king and some other important people drinking in enjoyment there many things like that.(didnt want to take to much info someone want to connect to mine and explain what was on the other side)
Ella - There were many materials used to make the standard of ur such as lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, Red stones from India, and shells from the gulf to the South of Iraq. These things are all reminders that the cities thrived because of the success in agriculture. There was a river valley between Tigris and Euphrates where they grew large amounts of food.
Ben - One of the most important historical items in Egyptian history was the Rosetta Stone, the Rosetta Stone was an ancient stone tablet discovered in 1799, it had the same thing written in three different languages. First, hieroglyphs, then egyptian, then greek. This allowed historians to translate all the hieroglyphs that were seen in temples and pyramids.
Emma - On the other side of the Standard of Ur, there are three scenes depicting a war. The lowest section shows chariots coming into battle and trampling their enemies. The second row has a clearly organized army marching into battle, fighting, and taking prisoners. The top again has the king, this time being presented with prisoners of war.
Audrey - The Rosetta Stone is a very popular artifact found in the British Museum. It was brought there when Napoleon’s army was in Egypt. One of the many people who came with Napoleon came across the stone being used in the foundation of a fort. Originally it would have been in or near an Egyptian temple and was the bottom part of a much taller tablet. Napoleon took the stone back with him, but when the British defeated Napoleon they took it. Two years later, in 1801 or 1802, the Rosetta Stone was taken to the British Museum and it has been there ever since.
Ethan - I guess I’ll explain the Rosetta Stone. It had 2 forms of Egyptian on it. Hieroglyphic and Demotic. Hieroglyphic, as many people know, uses symbols. Demotic is kind of like the print writing of English, but Egyptian. It also had Greek on the stone so it, even after many years, was decipherable.
Skylar - The Rosetta Stone was carved in 196 B.C. We were not able to read the Rosetta Stone until mid 19th century. The Rosetta stone is called the Rosetta stone because of where it was found, Rosetta. It was written in three different scripts The first was hieroglyphic which was the script used for important or religious documents. The second was demotic which was the common script of Egypt. The third was Greek which was the language of the rulers of Egypt at that time.
Hunter- The Rosetta stone and the Standard of Ur are both important discoveries I can’t say anything more because like last season nothing left to say it’s all taken (and yes i went and looked at more than just the first page or google but I mean this is what I get for being busy all week i guess)

600 BCEAncient India: Beginnings -
Gabe - the harappan civilization or the indus valley civilization because it was near the indus river spread from northwest india to afghanistan and pakistan at the peak of the harappan civilization they may have had a population of 5 million people indus cities are noted for there urban planning which is where you build your cities in with the land to make your life easier basically they also made baked brick houses huge drainage systems water supply systems and basically metropolitan areas.
Ella - Around 2600 BCE, Harappan communities had become large urban areas. Overall about 1000 settlements were founded in the Indus river area. The Mohenjo-daro was one of the biggest cities in the area. It was also one of the more sophisticated cities with its advanced uses for engineering and urban planning.
Ben - The Indus river civilization was one of the most advanced and one of the most mysterious ancient places. They were very good at building and their brick areas are impressive even to today’s standards because of how they survived hundreds of years of weather and damage. And jewelry from around that area has been seen in different countries, so trading was probably happening too.
Emma - The people of the Indus River Valley Civilization region are known for their advancements in the technology of their time. Their accurate systems for measuring length and mass made their advanced sanitation system possible. This system was the first of its kind ever in history.
Audrey - Sanskrit has many similarities to other languages like English and Latin. Words like matr, in English mother, and in Latin mater, show the resemblance. The Vedas mention a “god” named Dyaus Pitr which means “sky father”. In Greek there is Zeus Pater, and in Latin Jupiter, both of which, also meaning sky father.
- Ethan - Some of the people in the Indus Valley are called Harappans. The reason that the Harappans succeeded in early technology was they had the most accurate ways to measure length and mass. They also invented bricks, one of the staples in building today.
Skylar - The Harappa civilization was more than just Harappa. The largest cite they had was Mohenjo-Daro, it was n the Sihn region of Pakistan. They believe 40,000 lived in just Mohenjo-Daro. Some think that the Harappa civilization was happening around 7000 BCE, they believe they were just living in small villages, but they don’t have very much evidence. Nobody really knows how or why the Indus Valley civilization came to an end.
Hunter- Important innovations of this civilization include standardized weights and measures, seal carving, and metallurgy with copper, bronze, tin, and lead.
600 BCEShang China: Beginnings -
Gabe - the earliest period in chinese history is the mythical period which supposedly was ruled by the xia empire and was overthrown by the Shang in 1766 bce but we are not sure if the Xia overthrow was true because we don’t have archaeological evidence of the Xia empire but we do have evidence of the Shang empire and they ruled from 1766 bce to 1046 bce
Ella - The earliest form of Chinese writing was found as inscriptions carved into bones and shells.These animal remains were known as oracle bones. The writing on the bones was very complex, suggesting that the language had been around for a while. Scientists didn't have trouble reading it because it was very similar to modern chinese writing.
Ben - The chinese craftsmen mastered the alloy bronze, which gave most of their soldiers an advantage. The Shang were excellent builders and engineers, they worked on many things including irrigation systems similar to how the indus river civilization did.
Emma - In the Shang Dynasty Civilization, the king was not a political figure. His main role was as a religious leader, the use of oracle bones making up a large part of their responsibilities. The government itself was run by chosen advisors and other officials.
Audrey - Chinese writings from the Shang Dynasty can be found on oracle bones. An oracle bone is an ox’s scapula (shoulder blade) that people would write questions on; they would heat the bone over a flame until it cracked, and then they would interpret the cracks to get an answer to their question.
Skylar - The Shang Dynasty was the first dynasty that we have a lot of proof of. It lasted around 500 years. They had great irrigation systems for their day, and had also developed social classes. Both banks of the Yellow River had greats amounts of loess.with is a very nutrient-rich soil that is amazing for growing almost anything. The Shang dynasty was in and near the modern day city of Anyang. It’s known for their writing, a lot like modern day Chinese. Near the end of this dynasty they had chariots and people believe they were in contact with people out in the west.
- Ethan - The Shang had some, to say the least, strange practices. The Shang made offerings to dead relatives in attempt to communicate with them. These “Oracle Bones” people will have talked about by now, are made out of turtle shells, and they were used to predict the future.
Hunter- the Shang dynasty craftspeople mastered bronze, an alloy of copper and tin; bronze weapons gave the foot soldiers a tactical advantage.
600 BCEAncient Americas: Beginnings -
Gabe - Some of the first people in north america were the olmec who were some of the first mexicans they lived around the gulf of mexico around were veracruz and tabasco (like the sauce i guess) is a nahuatl word from the aztec language which means rubber people because they were the first we know to discover how to convert latex off trees into rubber we call them this because we do not know exactly what they called themselves
Ella - None of the Olmecs beliefs or customs were recorded, but there were some artifacts found in the area that indicated long trade routes that spread throughout many regions. Some of the artifacts such as jade and obsidian were evidence that the Olmec people traded with civilizations outside the Gulf Coast of Mexico.
Ben - There were a few different early north and south american tribes and cultures such as the mayans. The Mayans were the only ones in early america who had a fully developed writing system. They used hieroglyphs and lived in southeast mexico, they kind of owned southeast mexico.
Emma - From 3500 to 1700 BC the Caral civilization existed in was is now northern Peru. It was a complex society in which specialized and interconnected roles existed, though people disagree on whether or not it can be classified as a civilization due to the lack of evidence concerning political, economical, and religious systems.
Audrey - The first humans to come to the Americas came 15-16,000 years ago.They are believed to have come from north-eastern Asia across the Bering Strait during the last glaciation period when the sea level was low enough for the Bering Land Bridge.
Skylar - the first people that came to north and south america somewhere between 15,000 and 16,000 years ago. They believe the first people were in Florida 14,500 years ago. The Mississippian culture was a north american culture. The mississippi river is named after them. Their famous city was Cahokia and it is around modern day St. Louis.
- Ethan - There was a race of people called the Chavin and their culture was centered around a big temple in Chavin de Huantar. Their government system was most likely based off of a hierarchy, while sticking to religion. The Chavin was founded in the northern Andean highlands in Peru. Their civilization was founded in between 900 and 250 BC, which was about to the time period of 1000 years after the collapse of the Caral. The Chavin were located in the Mosna River Valley, in which the Mosna and Huachesa rivers meet.
Hunter- cant find nothin!!!!!!!
600 BCE Human innovation and the environment
Gabe - We were nomadic people so we started to farm and start agriculture and build small villages probably making us have more food for more population and basically we started staying in one spot and we started to have tribes and the others started doing this.
Ella - One thing that separates humans from animals is our ability to learn and teach efficiently and effectively. We are able to pass down the information and skills we learned to the next generation a lot better than other species can. This is because of our specific and strong communication techniques we've developed like language and writing.
Skylar - Before the Neolithic era people had to hunt for food. They would walk short or long distances to find food if there was nothing oblivious to kill for food. Most people were what are called hunter gatherers. They did not consume as much calories as pastoral people. This was called Paleolithic era and the beginning of the mesolithic era. The main thing that happened in the Neolithic era was agriculture. Agriculture was a huge deal, most would say one of the best things that happened in human history. It changed people’s lifestyle and diet. They could now raise crops and/or animals. Move most anywhere they wanted. They then had time to figure out a way to write out the things they were learning.
Ben - Over all this time and seeing these things it’s interesting to realize that these people were skilled and could create art and sculptures, writing and speech. One of the most helpful human skills is collective learning, where most information can be passed on to more people in such a way to make the potential knowledge of collective humanity nearly infinite.
Emma - The development of written language had a huge impact on the development of human civilizations. Learning from the past, beyond what current generations could recall, began to change societies. For example, it allowed agriculture to develop because newer generations could learn what did and didn’t work in the past. Political records also influenced and changed developing political systems.
Audrey - The Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal meaning from the beginning, would have controlled fires that would clear the forests to make the area more suitable for grassland. The grassland would provide an area for animals they could easily hunt and live off of.
- Ethan - Innovation mainly began with stone tools that allowed humans to do simple tasks even easier. These tools that helped early humans hunt consisted mainly of spears and knives but very primitive. Like very poorly sharpened edges, but enough to get the job done. Farming tools would mainly consist of what today would be related to a hoe.
Hunter- A type of farming used by the Aboriginal Australians was firestick farming, when they would conduct said farming they would start what are called ‘controlled burns’ they were not new to this and knew which seasons to do this in. Like in Spring or Autumn when there was a certain amount of moisture in the air to control the fires and this did more than just give the natives a better landscape but to also help prevent large scale fires and allow kangaroo to graze there for them to eat.

That’s all the time we have for today. THank for joining us out of the box that is learning
47 min
September 11, 20182.0 Intros
Introductions

Name, grade level, Fav point in History you are looking forward to speaking about.
Ella, 9th, 1942 - 1945 (World War II)
Emma, 11th, Medieval Times
Audrey, 9th, Modern History (around the 1950’s)
Ethan, 10th, 1955 Civil Rights Movement
Skylar, 9th, 19th amendment (1920)
Hunter, 8th, The 2nd amendment, and American ministry
Gabe, 8th, The Hellenistic Period
Ben, 8th. Ancient Rome/Greece
6 min

About Emancipation Podcast Station

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The place where history is researched and retold through t he eyes of high school students

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Emancipation Podcast Station

Emancipation Podcast Station episodes

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