- Around 1500 years ago, a large volcanic eruption caused global climate change, plunging the world into a volcanic winter. Krakatoa volcano is believed to be responsible. - This catastrophe had wide-ranging impacts, weakening the Avar and Roman empires and contributing to the rise of Islam and the fall of Teotihuacan in Mexico. - Differences in resources and environments across regions caused human populations to adapt in different ways over generations, resulting in today's diversity of human characteristics and cultures around the world.

1. By Eduardo Vega
Events that changed history and created todays world.

2. Around 1500 years ago, the sun went dark,
rain was red like blood, there was clouds of
dust, and a cold weather ruled over the
land for two years. This climate change
affected the entire world and changed its
people for ever. There could only be three
things that could change the climate of the
world over night like that; a volcano, a
comet or an asteroid. There is no proof of a
comet or asteroid impact that dates
around that time so the only explanation
was a volcano. Studies of the rings of trees
and the ice in both the north and south
poles shows proof that a large volcano did
explode around the time of the
catastrophe, so which one was the one
that caused the big climate change? The
culprit was a volcano called Krakatoa, it’s a
very active and strong volcano that is
believed exploded at the same time of the
climate change.
As a result of the volcanic explosion many people
were affected, and the world nations and religions
changed. These are some examples of those
changes:
• The Avars were strong people whose economy
and power came from their many horses. Thanks
to the volcanic winter, they lost many horses and
were weaken enough for the Turks to defeat
them. That pushed the Avars to move west
towards Rome, who was already weaken by a
plague. As the Avars attacked the weaken Rome,
they weaken it even further.
• Rome was trading with Brittan and their plague
was transfer to them via the trading ships.
Brittan was separated into two at the moment,
but thanks to Romes plague weaking the west
side, the east side of Brittan was able to over
come and unite Brittan.
• Over seas in Mexico, the city of Teotihuacan
collapse after the volcanic winter took a toll in
their crops and animals and the people turned
against their leader.
• Even the religion of Islam is believed to be a
result of the catastrophe, as Muhammad's words
were stronger in this time of need and great lost
to the people of his city.

3. In todays world, there are nations with millions of people that can maintain good living
conditions, and there are nations also with millions of people that could barely feed only
hundred of thousands, which equals into poor living conditions. So why do some nations
do so much better than others, and not just in the present time but through out history?
This is due to the difference in resources I their area. The nations who were in areas full of
animal they could put to use and plants they could eat, did much better than the nations
that were sitting on deserts with few animals to domesticate.
Other areas that have good resources,
and many different kinds of them, did
much better than those without them.
A good example is areas around where
there is a lot of water and different
kinds of good resources can be found.
These areas usually have animals that
can be domesticated to work and
harvest the crops. These things help
made those areas create stronger
nations.

4. There is people almost in every corner of the globe, we all have the same body structure and
same genes and yet we don’t all look alike. Why are we all so alike and at the same time so
different? The explanation the video “The Journey of Man” was a very simple but very
accurate one: That we all came from the same place but thanks to the differences in the
areas we live, we adapted to them so we could survive.
Its is believed that all life started somewhere in Africa, and that as people migrated and
traveled to different areas, they formed small societies and got used to their environment.
This cycle just kept happening until almost the entire globe had people in it, and they all
adapted to their environment. But how did they get across the ocean between Europe and
the Americas? The answer is a frozen path in the northern part of the ocean.
These differences in not just appearance, but in ways of living created even bigger
differences in society and culture. Those differences are what created todays nations and
religions around the world. But no matter what, our DNAs show that we might look different
but that we are still the same thing.

5. • What the video is trying to say through out the whole thing is that the world exists only as we see it in present moment,
if we change out point of view then the entire world can change for us.
• A way we can change the world is with out curiosity, since it makes us ask questions that can change our point of view
thus changing the entire world.
• “We are what we know” is a phrase James Burke uses in the video. What he's trying to say is we act because of the facts
we know.
• Thanks to people asking questions about the world, we have been able to try and find explanations and thus advance
forward.
• Asking questions is what has made the northern hemisphere into what it is now.

6. The book “Peoples and Empires” is about the stories of the great empires of
Europe. Those Empires are the Roman, the Spanish, the French, and the
British and the influence they had through out the entire world. The time
frame the book focuses on is from Greek time to the present day.
Some of the main points in the book were:
• Their colonies
• The back-and-forth between them all
• Their culture and nature
• Their beliefs
• Civilization/Barbarism
Ways the world was changed by each:
• The religion of Christianity
wouldn’t have spread as fast, or
even have spread at all, if it
wasn’t because of Rome taking it
as its official religion around 230
A.D.
• The Spanish affected the early
Americas a lot, them working with
and against local forces changed
the Americas and if It wasn’t
because of them, the Americas
would probably look completely
different now.
• The British pushed religion upon its people
and so people fled to the Americas and
created colonies there that slowly became
the United States.
• The French had a very large empire for a
time, and so French is now widely used by
not just by people who live in France but
also by people outside of the country.