Valerie Friar's Human Geo Blog

what cleisthenes did was a huge step forward, getting regular floks involved in governing. But this first democracy had it's limits citizens could participate but only one-fifth of Athenians were citizens after several years, Athens practiced a direct democracy What democracy looks like: it's where the state/city state is ruled by it's citizens rule is based on citizenship in the agora, citizens argued, made speeches, then voted with white stones

cleisthnes- definitely a member of the elite very rich insulated from the "hoi palloi" but... a craft politician saw the value of tapping into the talents, intelligence, and energies of the non-aristocrats (middle class) still didn't realize the value of women Draco (621 BCE)  Solon's reforms (594 BCE) allowed citizens to submit laws for debate at the assembly created the council of five hundred ...only free adult make property owners born in Athens

Aristocrats attended symposiums meetings where the elite men would enjoy wine and poetry, performances by dancers and acrobats, and the company of heaters while discussing politics Politics- an exclusive club No women (except the "entertainment") No middle class no slaves aristocrats who weren't wealthy anymore could fall out Sometimes aristocrats would form alliances with hoplites (well-armed soldiers) and set up an alternative form of government called a tyranny  Tyrant- someone who rules outside the framework of the polis (old definition) Draco (621 BCE)-  all Athenians (rich or poor) are equal under the law, death is the punishment for many crimes, debt slavery was OK (work as a slave to repay debts) Solon's reform (594 BCE)-  outlaws debt slavery, all Athenian citizens can speak at the assembly, any citizen can press charges against wrongdoers Draconian- overly harsh punishment  More reforms (around 500 BCE)- allowed all citizens to submit laws fo

Polis- fundamental political unit in ancient Greece Acropolis- citizens gathered to discuss city government Monarchy- when a single person (king) rules the government Aristocracy- Government ruled by a small group of noble, landowning families Oligarchy- government ruled by a few people  Tyrants- powerful individuals that sometime seized control of the government by appearing to the common people for support Democracy- rule by the people

goats feasting travelling by ship strange land a giant monster man-mountain wine sharing gifts needed to be diluted flocks of sheep sacrifice to gods huge boulder cave exit fire hospitality cyclops don't care odysseus is crafty he just ate 2 guys 2 more his club is as big as a ship's mast "my name is nobody" drills a burning mast into the cyclops eye escape by changing to sheep's bellies trash talk  a fetal flaw? pride?

Mycenae was on an island protected by a 20 foot thick wall really good at building ships 1400 BCE Mycenaens invaded crete and absorbed Minoan culture people think war was ficitional around 1200 BCE the mysterious "sea people" began to invade Mycenae, and burnt the palaces they don't know who the "sea people" are dorians didnt write things down, writing disappeared as they remained in control for 400 years time period is referred to as "the dark ages" in Greece Greek oral tradition- stories passed on by word of mouth Homer was a blind old man who would tell stories and pass down everything by oral tradition Homer composed the Iliad and Oddysey The Odyssey is 12,110 lines long

I left class early today but these are the notes I had the time to get, (small in size huge in influence) although fertille valleys cover one quarter of the peninsula, only 20% is arable (suitable for farming) greek diet consists of grains, grapes and olives lack of resources most likely led to greek colonization

mountainous archipelago sea baring mountains cover 3/4 of the land 2000 islands in the Ionian and Aegan seas many skilled sailors and ship builders also farmers, metalworkers, weaves, patters they had poor/limited natural resources, so they had to trade It was difficult to unite the ancient greeks because of the terrain develop small independent communities (city states) so that's who they were loyal to.  Greece is 50949 square miles Important Things to Identify: aegan sea ionian sea adriatic sea peloponnesus athens sparta crete asia minor macedonia

Today in class we discussed the basic stuff about western civ and Christopher  Columbus.  I really con't know what western civ means I thought it was about people from Texas but I guess not. Ancient Greece is the World world's great civilizations are all located on water Mesopotamia- Tigris and Euphrates river Egypt- Nile river China- Huang He river Adriatic Sea - Ionian Sea -Tyrhenian Sea Mediterranean Sea "middle of the world"

In class today, we took our final test of the semester. Human geo is over, I learned a lot of new and interesting things in this class i'll actually be remembering for a long time. Now we have western civ next week and I really don't know what that's going to be about but i'm exited to learn! I'm pretty confident in this test even though I feel like I messed up on a couple of questions in the back and last portion of the test. I really hope I do good!

Syria- Bashar al-Assad authoritarian regime ordered mass crackdowns and military sieges on Arab protestants, ;eading to the syrian civil war doesn't like his own people committing war crimes and crimes agains humanity Canada- Justin Trudeau defended Canadian federalism started campaign for winter sports safety one of the youngest prime ministers United States- Donald Trump buisnessman billionare in charge of part of dad's company when 25 worth 3.1 billion dollars Kenya- Uhuru Kenyatta son of Kenya's first president won election twice accused of rigging election North Korea- Kim Jong Un ordered to kill his own brother killed his uncle and his whole family and tried to wipe him from existance killed people who supported his uncle national self reliance

Mexico- Enrique Pena Nieto approval ratings 28% not very affective personal problems China- XI Jinping son of communist daughter went to harvard India- Narendra Modi ruthless heartless ambitious started his career in the KGB Germany- Angela Merkel 12 years  PHD in quantum chemistry #1 on 2016 Forbes list for 11 years United Kingdom- Theresa May In charge of all decisions not queen Elizabeth Became in charge when David Cameron resigned  France- Emmanuel Macron no previous experience in government  Married to a woman who's 24 years older, used to be his high school teacher Japan- Shinzo Abe Father and Grandfather were polititians Married daughter of previous Prime Minister Italy- Sergio Mattarella prominent Sicilian family Brother killed by Sicillian Mafia

Today in class we started a project about 15 different countries, their leaders and maps.

Today in class we learned about political geography. How is the world organized? Country- an identifiable land area Nation- a population with a common culture State- a population under a single government; can be synonyms with "country" Nation continued- a group of people with a shared identity, think of it as a culture group Nation Definition- Nations are groups of people, larger than a single tribe or community, which may share a common language, institutions, religion, and/or organization in a society or culture Independent State has space or territory which has internationally recognized boundaries has people who live there on an ongoing basis has economic activity and an organized economy which regulates foreign and domestic trade and issues money has the power of social engineering, such as education