Our Wonderful World

Countries on Europe's Atlantic Coast were competing heavily for wealth and power. Portugal, England, Spain and France sent explorers to America, at the time, known as the "New World." In 1488 a ship from Portugal sailed around the southern tip of Africa while in 1492, Spain sent a ship that sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. The first person to realize that America had been a continent was a man named Amerigo Vespucci. He is the one that called America "A new world" and later, America was named after him in honor of his discovery. One explorer that explored America was Christopher Columbus. He was paid by Spain to sail across the Atlantic Ocean for a trade route to India. Unknowingly though, he instead discovered America. When he landed on the East Coast of America he met the Ta íno people. Columbus's Voyage to the Americas increased Europe's interest in exploration and led to many other voyages and colonies. John Cabot was another explorer that sailed th...

 Many things don't seem important in history but to know how we're here now, we have to know what came before us. Much of this started in the 1400s. The world was moving then, rich empires served as Patrons (people they could pay to study, explore, or create art for the empire). Patronage was important it led to advances in knowledge through trade routes. (An area used by merchants for economic purposes) After patronage was settled though, Europe came to North and South American many tribes were developing quickly. The Iroquois Confederacy was a "tribe" near the Great Lakes. They were gaining much power over trade and they traded cash crops such as tobacco. The Aztecs are a different story though, they were expanding greatly. Aztec rulers were becoming patrons, mainly fore poets. As for the Incas, their rulers were also patrons!   They were patrons for inventors that made and developed technologies. These technologies were for farming, medicine, and bridge building. L...

 Halloween is a festival known around the world, and has many traditions. Some include making jack-o-lanterns, dressing up, and going door to door to get candy; but the history is even more fascinating than the traditions.  Halloween, or All Hallows Eve is celebrated on October 31st to celebrate the last day of harvest.  To understand Halloween today though, it is better to take a look at what it was before, and how it came to be. Halloween comes from the Celtic Festival of Samhain. The people of Samhain would often complete similar traditions as we do now. They would light fires, like lighting jack-o-lanterns, and they would also dress up. Both of these things would be done to ward off ghosts. This Celtic Festival is not important to the history of Halloween, but more so explains where most of the traditions come from. In 837, Pope Gregory IV declared that November 1st would become All Saints Day. Although this news was limited to Rome for a long time, the Catholic peopl...