Hunter to Trader

Hunter to Trader

Early Trade and Exploration

The world looked very different 20,000 years ago. Great glaciers, caused by an ice age, covered much of the land. The people who lived at this time were hunters and gatherers, and they were always on the move. They followed herds of animals; gathered wild nuts, berries, plants and shellfish; and fished the rivers. They traveled long distances for things they valued, such as flint for making tools and weapons.

Gradually, they drifted across much of Europe and Asia, and crossed into North America. At the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 BC, the glacier thawed and lush forest grew. As the climate changed, so did the way humans lived. Many continued to hunt and gather food, but people in the Middle East planted crops and bred animals. They made pots, wove cloth, and used metals such as gold. Soon they started to trade with other villages for goods they could not produce themselves.

On the move

A group of hunters and gatherers in North America follows a herd of caribou as they migrate between summer and winter pastures. The people carry all their possessions as well as their flint-tipped spears and arrows for hunting.

Past Reflections

People made utensils and tools from obsidian, a black volcanic glass that was highly valued. Almost 9,000 years ago, women at Catai Huyuk in Turkey used obsidian mirrors such as this to put on their make-up.

Flint Ax

Hunters used bone or wood to chip flint stones into tools with sharp edges.

Survival Tools

Hunters and gatherers caught they prey with weapons such as wooden daggers with deer-horn points, harpoons made from wood (middle) and spearheads made from deer bone with flint set in carved grovers.

Nature. Photo by Elena.

Golden Bull

This bull made of gold came from Bulgaria. People often traded for precious metals, such as gold.

Working the Land

Early farmers in the Middle East made the first plows and harnessed oxen to them. Thousands of years later, this farmer in central India users similar tools to plow his land.

Village Life

The town of Catal Huyuk, in southern Turkey, is one of the oldest towns in the world. People built these mud-brick houses, which were joined together and entered through the roofs, in 7000 BC. Some of the houses were special shrines, decorated with will paintings, for worshiping the gods. The people herded cattle; grew wheat, barley and peas; and were skilled cloth-makers. They had plenty of obsidian and exchanged it for goods from other areas. Catal Huyuk soon became a busy trading center.

Ancient Egypt

Discovering Ancient Egypt

How can you discover ancient Egypt? You can visit the pharaoh's treasures in the world's great museums. You can read travelers' tales recorded by writers of the past, such as the Greek historian Herodotus, and you can learn fro Egyptologists. When. When Napoleon Bonaparte's army invaded Egypt in 1798, the French discovered many of its ancient treasures. Since then Egyptologists have studied monuments, painted friezes, objects from the tombs and things people threw away that the dry climate has preserved. They have deciphered records of daily events and other writing that survives on stone and papyrus. If you ever visit Egypt, you will be able to see the people who now live beside the Nile. They still use some of the old farming methods, and tools have changed little since ancient times. But their crops no longer depend on the time of inundation or flooding, because the Aswan Dam now controls Egypt's lifeline.

Dynasties of Ancient Egypt

Egyptologists have pieced together the sequence of the kings of ancient Egypt from fragments of inscribed stone and papyrus. Generally, a dynasty lasted for the time one family or group of pharaohs was in power. There were three very successful periods. During the Old Kingdom, the first pyramid at Saqqara and the Great Pyramid at Giza were built. In the Middle Kingdom, trade expanded and arts, crafts and temple building flourished. The Hyksos were expelled at the beginning of the New Kingdom and the pharaohs of this time established en empire.

Ancient Egypt in the Ice Age. Photo by Elena.

Did you know a few things about Ancient Egypt?

To save them from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, the temples from Philae Island were taken piece by piece to Agilkia Island and rebuilt..

When the pyramids were built at Giza, desert surrounded them. Now, the suburbs of Cairo are creeping close to them.

The British Museum displays coffins and mummies. The Cairo Museum has objects from Tutankhamun's tomb. The temple of Dendur has been rebuilt in New York<s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The great Sphinx at Giza is showing its age. From time to time expert restorers have erected scaffolding to maker repairs.

The voyage or Ra II: Norvegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl wanted to test the seaworthiness of reed boats. In 1970, he built Ra II from bundles of papyrus lashed together with rope. It took 57 days to sail from Morocco to the West Indies. This did not show that the ancient Egyptians made such a journey, but it did prove that papyrus vessels were capable of surviving long sea voyages.

New Design

Manhattan – A New Design

The construction of an innovative buildings is difficult and often requires new techniques and special building materials. Many unexpected problems arise no matter how careful the advance planning may be. The architects and engineers face major obstacles to introduce innovative methods and to work out a way to actually build new buildings.

All the pictures have been taken by Elena.

A great building can reflect many different ideas and styles and tells us about the values and beliefs of the people who design and build it.

These buildings have thing, lightweight roof, which was made by pouring concrete over a tightly stretched wire mesh.

Ancient buildings around the world looked different because they were shaped by the building materials available. Each material inspired  a different construction method.

Broadway and Toronto Dominion Bank on sight.

Metals, plastic and glass from around the world are used in this buildings.

There are always many unexpected costs and delays in construction.

Their roofs are designed to be made of prestressed concrete.

Large international corporations are building impressive and functional buildings. Many of these giant buildings can be seen all over Manhattan.

As space became scarce, corporations needed high-rise buildings, so architects and engineers designed skycrapers to withstand earthquakes.

Modern buildings dot the New York  skyline, but modern lifestyles affect their future.

Each new generation of architects and engineers will face many new obstacles and technological opportunities.

Architects will create different building materials, methods and architectural styles to meet new challenges. 

St. Andrew's church in the heart of Manhattan.

Trinity church, one of the oldest Christian temples on Manhattan.

Stone Jungle. New York, New York.

Place in front of the Trump Center, near the Central Park of New York.

The Beginnings of Sports

The Beginnings of Sports

People have always enjoyed competing against each other. In prehistoric times, a humor who could run fast and throw a stone or spear accurately was a valued member of the tribe.

The ancient Greeks included athletics in many of their religious festivals. In 776 BC, they held a festival of sport to honor Zeus, the greatest of the Greek gods. Athletes from all over the country gathered in a stadium in valley of Olympia to test their speed, strength and skill in the first Olympic Games. These games were held every four years, and for a long time only males were allowed to watch and take part in the races. The games continued  for several centuries after the Romans conquered Greece, until the Roman Emperor Theodosius I ended them in AD 394. Almost 1,500 years later, the ruins of the Olympic stadium were discovered by archaeologists. Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin suggested holding a modern, international Olympic Games. The first games of the new ear of the Olympics were held in Athens in 1896.

Hail the Champion

Today's victorious Olympic champions receive gold medals. Sporting heroes of ancient Greece were crowned with wreaths made from laurel leaves, as shown on this vase.

Race in Armor

The oddest foot race at the ancient Olympics – the hoplite race – was introduced in 520 BC. Contestants, naked except for their leg-protectors and helmets, had to carry their shields while they ran the race.

Sports in Ancient Greece. Photo by Elena.

Sporting spectacular

In 680 BC. Four-horse chariot races were added to the program of the 25th Olympic Games. As many as 40 chariots crashed, jostled and maneuvered their way around the course marked out in the hippodrome.

The Olympic Torch

The lighting of the flame is the high point of the opening ceremony at the modern Olympic Games. Since 1936, this custom has served as a reminder of the beginnings of this festival. A lighted torch is carried by relay runners from Olympia in Greece, site of the original Olympics, to the city where the modern games are to be held. This torch is used to light the Olympic flame that burns above the stadium throughout the festival. The flame is seen as a symbol of nations and athletes competing peacefully in the spirit of sport.

Discus Hero

Among the sports to have survived from the earliest Olympics is discus throwing. The ancient Greek vase shows a discus thrower placing or withdrawing the peg that is used to mark the distance the discus has been thrown. 

Central Park - New York

Central Park - Manhattan - New York

The  New York Central Park was established in 1857 on 778 acres of land acquired by the city of New York. In 1858, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect/landscape designer Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they titled the "Greensward Plan". Construction began the same year, and the park's first area was opened to the public in the winter of 1858. Construction north of the park continued during the American Civil War in the 1860s, and the park was expanded to its current size in 1873. 

After a period of decline in the early 20th century, Robert Moses started a program to clean up Central Park. Another decline in the late 20th century spurred the creation of the Central Park Conservancy in 1980, which refurbished many parts of the park during the 1980s and 1990s.

Here come some views of the park. All the pictures have been taken by Elena.

Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1963, which in April 2017 placed it on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The park is frequented by various migratory birds during their spring and fall migration on the Atlantic Flyway. 

In 1979, Parks Commissioner Gordon Davis established the Office of Central Park Administrator, appointing to the position the executive director of another citizen organization, the Central Park Task Force.

Pond. The park contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds that have been created artificially by damming natural seeps and flows.

Medieval Fight.

Arch under a bridge.

Rocks in the park.

Simon Bolivar.

Lonely trails.

 There is a large area of woods in addition to seven major lawns, the meadows.

There is an all-volunteer ambulance service, the Central Park Medical Unit, that provides free emergency medical service to patrons of Central Park and the surrounding streets.

The 6 miles (9.7 km) of drives within the park are used by joggers, cyclists, skateboarders, and inline skaters, especially when automobile traffic is prohibited, on weekends and in the evenings after 7:00 pm.

The park has many minor grassy areas; some of them are used for informal or team sports and some set aside as quiet areas; there are a number of enclosed playgrounds for children.

Flowers-blue-and-white on the roof.

While planting and land form in much of the park appear natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. 

Monument to Jose Marti, the Cuban prophet.

An enchanted forest. A beautiful landscape at dark purple sunlight or moonlight.

The Central park has its own New York City Police Department precinct—the Central Park Precinct—which employs both regular police and auxiliary officers.