Mountains of the Moon

Richard Burton, reknown explorer, traveled to many different places, spoke many different languages. Paired with John Speke, an officer in the British Indian army.
Their goal, to find the source of the Nile River. The second largest river and the longest in the world, and it's the only river where the water flows north.
A whole horizon of danger awaits these two. No map, dangerous wildlife and hostile tribes. Scarce land with barely any water. All they can do is travel west.
Taking some helpers they start their adventure. They faced many hardships, they had to withdraw and come back with more men when hostile natives ambushed them. The rugged land makes it hard to travel. Bugs and infestations makes it hard to sleep at night. Lions and other beasts lay await for them. It was a long and perilous journey but was it worth it?
During their journey the come across a King and his kingdom. Offering gifts, Richard gave him a handgun. Testing it, the King comes to like it's power. Of course, the natives of Africa are technologically impaired. The natives had spears, bows and arrows. The Europeans have guns. More importantly, machine guns. This would lead to the Europeans taking over Africa and each country having it's own chunk of the land.
Eventually John Speke himself discovers the source. A huge lake that he named Lake Victoria. Weird that a Lake in the middle of Africa would be named after a British Queen.
Richard Burton argues with John on the authencity of the lake. If it's the source.
And as time passed, John Speke commited suicide. Was it the journey and what he went throught? Was it the commotion over whether the lake he found was the source or not?

A price to pay when conquering the Mountains of the Moon....

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar, El Liberator, The George Washington of South America...
There's a reason he holds these titles as he rightfully earned them.

Venezuela born, his parents died when he was young. He traveled and studied in Europe and The United States...
He learned of the Enlightenment, and the American and French revolutions. He was inspired by the grand works of democracy and freedom to the people. It was time for him to free the Latin Countries from Spain...

Building up armies, he moved into battle with the armies of Spain. Though he had early defeats, he would easily avoid capture and come again with more troops. Never leading a force over ten thousand, focusing on surprise and the decision of battle, he quickly defeated the forces of Spain. Columbia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru were soon free from Spanish forces due to the contributions of El Liberator.
Fighting for the freedom of his Latin countries, Bolivar was succesful... also to the south, Jose de San Martin helped Argentina win it's independence and soon Mexico was liberated, Brazil was independent from Portugal as well.
Latin America was free... Spain had little to no control of South America.

A great military general, Simon Bolivar will be remembered as a legendary hero to Latin American people. Bolivia a country Simon helped liberated is named after him.
Although he was a great general, his ruling power collapsed and the countries under him divided into their own governments. He didn't had the influence that George Washington had... but he was pretty darn close.

Remembered forever, a remarkable hero... a revolutionist! Can we not follow his example?

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

The Reign of Terror... a gloomy and dark period. France was newly free from it's corrupt government. France desperately needed a leader, and many people rose to power. Eventually a street gang took things into their own hands and started executing people they find guilty of the old regime(the old way). They even executed King Louis XVI... a righteous end? maybe, maybe not.
Fear and terror spread throught France, and the main cause was.....the guillotine, an execution machine that chops off heads.
And out of this power struggle came a man named Maximilien Robespierre. He took control of the government and his aim was to wipe out any remains of the old regime, taking things to drastic measures. Even executing the widow of the former king. The Queen of France.
The Reign of Terror started to clear France of the old ways... but things were being taken too far. So far, that they closed churches and removed Sundays. So much for the rights of life and liberty. The revolution took a nasty turn, everyone was afraid that Robespierre would execute them. It would only take one accusation for someone to be trialed... and executed.
But eventually, the people of France got tired of Robespierre executing everyone and eventually they would put him on trial and have him executed. And the Reign of Terror was end there.

"Liberty cannot be secured until criminals lose their heads" Famous words by Robespierre himself, ironic that he would be served justice by his own words.

The French Revolution

1) The French Revolution began because the people were very angry at the King and nobles, unfair laws. The peasants were forced to work in the military, forced to pay taxes, while the nobles had complete authority over the peasants. The nobility didn't have to work in the army, they weren't forced to pay taxes. And they only made up of 2% of the population. 2% ruling over 98%. Very unfair.

2)A french peasant might have grumbled about the price of bread doubling, as if the high taxes are making their lives better.

3)The point the cartoonist was making with this drawing is that the peasants are doing all the hard work while the nobles, the clergy are enjoying life at the expense of the peasants. The caption "One hopes this will end soon" clearly makes the cartoonist against the nobles. It means that things should change...

4)The lives of the peasants were very bad. A woman had a very poor living, and had to pay taxes and dues to her Lord. The high taxes and the feudal dues are crushing the lives of the peasants.

5)These sources do explain the resentment the peasnts had toward the nobles and clergy. Source A shows the peasant carrying a noble and feudal lord. Source B shows the hardships of a peasant. Source C shows the income of the people.. and the nobility had way higher income than the average person.

6)Man is born free.... these words would mostly help and inspire the peasants, the 3rd Estate of France. By listening to these morals the people would understand and eventually revolt...

7)The pamphlet was banned as to not give any ideas to the people of France. To make things stay the way they are. This law was likey passed by the 1st and 2nd estates of France. The nobles and the clergy.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

John Locke heavily influenced Thomas Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence....
Jefferson speaks out against Britiannia's great King of tyranny. Declaring that we as humans deserve unchangeable rights as we are born. Life! the right to live.. Liberty! the right for freedom... and the pursuit of happiness! the right to prosper...
These rights are what Jefferson fights for... and it is these rights that King John has violated!
And upon these rights, governments are made to govern the people. And upon those rights, the people can abolish the government and replace it if it is becoming too destructive. By writing the Declaration of Independence, not only has Jefferson declared the colonies independent from Great Britian, but declared what we people have the right to do!
The Enlightenment has helped us all today, but still... people's "rights" are being violated everyday... everywhere. New ideas and new morals will be established... but our rights will never change.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

There are but 2 main theories of the solar system. Geocentric, and heliocentric. Geocentric is the theory that the Earth is THE center of the solar system, and all the stars, moons, and planets revolve around it. Heliocentric is the theory that involves the sun at the center of the solar system, and all things revolve around it.
The geocentric theory came first, and of course the heliocentric followed after. During the Scientific Revolution.... the heliocentric theory was being accepted by many astronomers first presented by Copernicus then defended by others.

Now Galileo, a believer of Copernicus planetary system, basically.... the heliocentric theory, was forced to stand trial against the Roman Inquisition. The Catholic Church. The church believed in the geocentric theory, and poor Galileo was sent to life imprisonment.... for the rest of his life.... till his days end....forever.....until he dies. Life Imprisonment. Only until 1992 did the Church admitted they were wrong with dealing Galileo. Over 400 years after his death, I'm sure he'd be happy......

If he was alive.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

The Scientific Revolution, a turning point in history. The major source of understanding science used to be the teachings of Aristotle. His teachings were unchallenged and believed for over 1,500 years. Until.....until some scientists decided to experiment and proved Aristotle wrong. That's right, wrong. Thus establishing THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD!. Experimenting over and over again to prove or disprove an idea or theory. And during the revolution, many scientists decided to question the ideas and theories that people believed in and made their own.
One example is Galileo's legendary feat. He went up to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped objects of different weight, proving that objects with different weights can fall at the same speed. Proving Aristotle wrong. Well he had a long run. 1,500 years. I wonder if the theories and ideas we believe in today will be proven wrong in the future or at least expanded on.. haha of course they will.

Evolution vs. Creationism

Simply put, all living and non living things has a common ancestry and that we evolve in time, usually taking millions of years. THAT is the theory of evo lu tion. Evolution. And man's common ancestor is shared with ... primates. Oh and the Big Bang theory usually plays a part in it.
Now the theory of Creationism is about the creation of the earth, universe, humans, and everything else by a supreme being. GOD.

And now where do I stand in in all of this? Scientists usually believe in evolution while Christians usually believe in Creationism. Well... I'm both. Not a scientist yet... but I'm getting there.
Evolution has many scientific facts providing proof and a solid base of information. Creationism has the Bible. Old Testament to be exact. Genesis to be more... and while the story is wonderful, it relies on your faith to believe in it.
So what have I come to believe in?
Well, being a christian for all my life, I certainly believe that God created the world. Though I wonder if evolution can fit in that. I have mixed feelings about evolution. I believe in Creationism more... but I can deal with the fact that evolution and creationism can go hand to hand.