The Columbian Exchange is a time period that went along with the Age of Exploration. It happened when European explorers traveled to the Americas and came in contact with Native Peoples of that region. There were positive and negative things that came out this though. One positive effect of the Columbian Exchange was all the different animals, plants, and vegetables that were exchanged. The Eastern world was introduced to things like pineapples, corn, beans, and turkeys. The Americas were introduced bananas, citruses, horses, chickens, and lots of other things. All of these things were positive effects of the Columbian Exchange.
There were also a few negative things that were exchanged during the Columbian Exchange though. The worst effect of the Columbian Exchange was disease. Diseases such as smallpox, measles, malaria, typhus, and influenza traveled with to the Americas with the Europeans. The Natives were not immune to these like the Europeans were, and millions died because of this. As you can see, the Columbian Exchange had a lot of positive and negative effects.
On Tuesday our school's seventh graders got to go to the zoo to see our animals that we did our zoo project on. There were a lot of new things at the zoo that were added since the last time I was there, so it was a lot of fun. My favorite part of the zoo was the tropical rain forest, which is where my animal, the Keel-Billed Toucan was. It was cool to get to see my animal.
I like the rain forest exhibit because when you walk in, it really feels like you are in the rain forest because it is really big and the animals are out walking around instead of all being in cages. It was funny though because when we were inside the exhibit, a big branch from a tree broke of and many zoo workers had to come help get it out. This brought a lot of brief excitement in my group. There was a lot of cool exhibits at the zoo, but the rain forest was my favorite.
The Inca and Aztec Empires were both great civilizations, who thrived in modern day Mexico (Aztecs) and all the way down the Andes mountains in South America (Incas). These empires had a lot of similarities, but one thing about them that was very alike was how each of them fell.
The Aztecs and Inca were both conquered by the Spanish, but that isn't what really made their falls similar. Before the Spanish came, each of them had internal conflicts which weakened them and their army. Also, in both cases, the Spanish acted nice to them, and once they got inside their main cities, they attacked. One other way that these two falls were alike, was that both of the empires couldn't fight against the Spanish guns and horses, with their stone and wood weapons. There was definitely a lot that caused both the fall of the Inca and Aztec Empires.
Seventh grade has been a challenging, but very fun school year for me. I have had a lot of great experiences, and have met many new friends this year. My favorite thing all year has been being in aquatics P.E. Water polo and swim were really fun and I learned a ton of stuff about those two new sports. It is also where I have met a whole new group of friends, that have been my closest friends all year. I can't wait for being in the class again next year.
Another thing that happened this year was the Zion National Park field trip with Mr. Kirste. I think I was very lucky to get to go on that trip. It was fun because I got to spend a lot of time with my friends, and the park was amazing. I really like the hike we did called the narrows. It was cold and wet, but nevertheless very fun. I have a lot of memories from that trip. I hope I can do something like that again soon.
RSS Feed