"African Independence"

Over a 20 year period, Africa has changed a lot. In 1957 , the Gold Coast received it`s independence and became known as Ghana. It was the first nation to be governed by black Afrikkans to join the British commonwealth. Ghana`s first prime minister and also president for life, Kwane Nkrumah, began development and economic projects, but the cost ruined the country. He also helped to develop the Pan African Congress in England. He later hosted the first Pan African meeting in Africa, which led to the formation of the Organization of African Unity. In 1966, the military took control while Nkrumah was in China. Soon Jerry Rawlings took power in 1979 & 1981. In the year 2000, the first open elections were held.

9th Grade Review- Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution was a period a long time ago when the hunter-gatherers learned how to grow food and how to domesticate animals. This development led to the decline of nomadism and led to the early stages of civilization. People could now live in one area and not have to chase animals around and search for food. They could now tame animals such as cows and pigs. They could also grow crops, have an abundance of food, and have their food nearby. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the human race to build civilizations and has laid the foundation for the civilizations we have today.

The European Union

The European Union is alliance of about 25 European countries. It started because of the constant deaths and injuries between many European countries. These wars and battles drained these countries by economically and also dropped the population. European leaderes finally came up with the brilliant idea to unite with each other and become what is known as the European Union. The European Union has helped drop the chance of war between these neighboring European States and has risen their economy greatly. It has become a world superpower, along with the U.S. The European Euro, which is their form of currency, is worth more than the U.S. dollar. The countries of the European Union have made their living situations and money situations better.

Film Lesson-"The Right Stuff"

The competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. was something known as the "Space Race". Just like the Arms Race, both countries were trying to develop ways to get into space quicker than the other country. In the movie, the Russians got the first satellite up into space, as well as the first man. The U.S. had accomplished getting the first monkey into space. The U.S. also accomplished making many orbits around the earth. So technically, the U.S.S.R. had won the space race. One scene from the movie that I will remember is the scene when the American astronauts first made it into space and continued making orbits around the earth

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as "Fourteen Days In October", was one of the warmest times of the Cold War. Ironically, it obviously lasted only fourteen days and was settled without anyone firing any missiles. It started when the Soviets realized they were behind in the Arms Race. Soviet missiles only had enough range to fire on other European countries. U.S. missiles had enough range to fire on the entire Soviet Union. This caused the Soviets to worry. Premier Nikita Khrushchev created the plan to import some of their missiles to Cuba, enemies of the United States, so they could be matched up in terms of destroying each other. The U.S. quickly found out about the Soviets plans and major threat that they were proving to be if they had missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy demanded that the Soviets remove their missiles from Cuba. He also issued a naval quarantine to stop from Soviet missiles to continue entering Cuba. Any nuclear launch from Cuba would be recognized as a direct attack from the Soviet Union. Tensions began to build from the U.S. and the Soviets. Low-level reconnaissance missions every two hours. These reconnaisance missions were performed to ensure our safety and that no missiles were planned to be fired.On October 28th, Khrushchev announced that he would remove his missiles from Cuba. The U.S. also agreed not to invade Cuba. The missiles were removed at a lot of tension relieved.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO was an abbreviation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The first members at the time of the Cold War were the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. NATO was developed in order to provide a defensive alliance against any nations that would attack any of the alliance members. Basically, a gang of countries that would defend each other in the event that another country had attacked one of them. In a form of indirect retaliation, Russia had created an alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. It consisted of the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The Soviets developed the Warsaw Pact in retaliation to the development of NATO.