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Long Ago & Today
Quiz by Lillian Mason
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Long Ago and Today
OUR WORLD 4 Unit 3 A LONG TIME AGO AND TODAY
Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky This play is based on an African folktale that tells how the moon and sun ended up in the sky. Characters: Narrator Sun Moon, Sun's Wife Water Narrator: Long ago, Sun, Moon, and Water lived together on Earth. (Sun and Moon are eating breakfast at home.) Sun: I will visit my good friend Water today. Moon: That sounds enjoyable, but why doesn't Water ever visit us? Do you feel ashamed or embarrassed to invite Water here? Sun: No, I am proud of our house. I will invite Water today! (Sun visits Water at the beach.) Sun: Water, why don't you ever visit us? Water: Your house can't hold me and my family. Sun: That's nonsense! Moon and I will enlarge our house, so there will be plenty of room for everyone! Water: Then I will visit you. Sun: Wonderful! Please holler loudly, so I hear you when you arrive. Now I must dash home quickly to start the work. (Sun rushes home.) Narrator: Sun and Moon raced to make their home larger. They added rooms and raised the roof higher. The new house was completely different and had no similarities to their old home. They felt it was a victory, or a win, for now their friend could visit. Water: Sun and Moon, I have arrived! Sun: Isn't this the largest home you've seen? Moon: Sun, it's not polite to brag, so please don't boast to our guest. Water, come inside. Narrator: Water splashed through the door carrying colorful fish, frogs, and crabs. As the water began to rise, Sun and Moon climbed onto furniture. Then they scrambled onto the roof. Sun: Moon, I'm not sure about the wisdom of inviting Water. Perhaps this wasn't a smart idea! Moon: No, Sun, it was the right thing to do but we must fly to safety! Narrator: Sun and Moon flew to the sky, where they remain today and still shine down on Water.
Lacrosse A Fun Game! The sport of lacrosse is exciting to play. It is ancient, fast, and fun! An Old Sport. Lacrosse comes from a First Nations team sport. Tribes in North America played lacrosse hundreds of years ago. It was an important game to them. Long ago, people from Europe settled in North America. They saw First Nations people playing lacrosse. The settlers liked the game and started playing it. Sometimes, they played with First Nations people. For a while, mostly settlers in Canada played lacrosse. Then, some schools in the United States began playing. Still, the game wasn't popular. The sticks used in the game were handmade and hard to get. Later, sticks were made more simply. Over time, people began playing the game across the country. Lacrosse Today. Today, men, women, boys, and girls play lacrosse. Lacrosse teams usually play outside in a field. Sometimes they play indoors. This is called box lacrosse. Lacrosse is popular in schools. There are two leagues in North America. Lacrosse is most popular in Canada and the United States. People in England and Australia also play the sport. Today, lacrosse is catching on all over the world! Game Rules. A lacrosse field is about the same size as a football field. A lacrosse game has two teams. Teams for men have ten players. Teams for women have twelve players. There is a net, or goal, at each end of the playing field. A lacrosse stick has a woven cup at the end. Players use the sticks to try to get a ball into the other team's net. A game starts with one player from each team in the middle of the field. The ball is on the ground between the players. When the whistle blows, the game begins. The two players use their sticks to get the ball. When a player gets the ball, he or she runs to get to the net. The player can also pass the ball to another player using the stick. Each team tries to keep the ball. One player on each team is the goalie. He or she stands next to his or her team's net. The goalie's job is to keep the ball from going into the net. If the ball goes into the net, it is worth one point. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins! Lacrosse Lives On. Now, more than ever, people love playing lacrosse. It is a fun team sport that is exciting to play and to watch!
France Where Is It? France is a country in Europe. Other countries are to the east. To the south is Spain. The Atlantic Ocean is to the north and to the west. The United Kingdom is to the north. It is across a part of the Atlantic Ocean called the English Channel. Paris is the capital city of France. It is a very famous city. Millions of tourists visit Paris every year. More than ten million people live there. People. More than sixty-six million people live in France. Most people live and work in cities. Some have jobs helping tourists who visit France. Some people live in the countryside and grow food on farms. More than half of the land in France is used for farming. Most people in France speak French. Land. France has many different kinds of land. It has hills, forests, rivers, lakes, and beaches. Most of France is covered with low plains and hills. France also has five mountain ranges. They sit between France and other countries. The highest mountains are in the Alps. History. Long ago, France was called Gaul. Other countries took over Gaul many times. The Romans took it over first, and then the Franks took it from the Romans. France got its name from the Franks. For a long time, France was ruled by powerful kings. Then the French people fought against one king. This was called the French Revolution (1789–1799). Today, France is a democracy. Celebrations People in France celebrate the beginning of the revolution on July 14. They celebrate with fireworks and parades. Food. France is known for its food. One type of food is a long, thin loaf of bread. Many meals have more than one part. A meal may have soup, salad, a main course, and fruit for dessert. Conclusion France is a beautiful country with a long history. It has rolling hills, forests, and mountains. Its food is known around the world. What do you like most about France?
Let's Play Ball! Baseball is an exciting game that is played all around the world. Players hit a ball with a bat. When you learn the rules, you can play the game. What Is Baseball? Baseball is a game with two teams. A team has nine players. Baseball teams play in an open field. Players use a bat, a ball, gloves, and four bases. A pitcher on one team throws the ball to a catcher on the same team. A batter on the other team hits the ball with the bat. The batter runs to first base, second base, and third base. The runner scores one point if he or she reaches the fourth base– home plate. The Story of Baseball. People have played baseball for hundreds of years. Long ago, people from England brought ball games to America. The games were like baseball in many ways. Over time, people made new rules and the games became one game-baseball. Famous Fields. Baseball fans love the fields where their teams play. In Boston, the team plays at Fenway Park. It is the oldest ballpark in America. Wrigley Field is an old ballpark in Chicago. Teams played there over one hundred years ago. They still play there today. Famous Players. Many people think Babe Ruth was the best baseball player ever. He hit 659 home runs with one team. He played for twenty-one years. Jackie Robinson is a hero. He was the first black baseball player to play on teams with white players. People look up to him for being a great athlete. Roberto Clemente played baseball with his team for eighteen years. He was really good at hitting the baseball. He scored 240 home runs for his team. Derek Jeter played baseball for twenty years. He scored 260 home runs for his team. People will always remember him as a great player. Everybody's Sport. Baseball time begins in the spring and goes until fall. Boys, girls, and grown-ups like to play and watch baseball. Many people think it is the best game in the world.
Argentina Where Is It? Argentina is the second-largest country in South America. It is the eighth-largest country in the world. Five countries share borders with Argentina. About forty-three million people live in Argentina. The capital of Argentina is Buenos Aires. Its name means "fair winds." About fifteen million people live in Buenos Aires. People. Most people in Argentina live in large cities. Other people live in the country. Some of these people are farmers. They grow crops such as wheat and grapes. Men, women, and children from all over the world live in Argentina. Many people are from Europе. Most people in Argentina speak Spanish. Land. Argentina has mountains, lakes, and rivers. The Andes Mountains are in the west. They are the longest group of mountains in the world. Argentina has many different kinds of animals. Monkeys, wild cats, and many other animals live there. Some of the most beautiful places in Argentina are rivers. Some of the river water falls from very high places. The falls are some of the biggest in the world. History. People have lived in Argentina for thousands of years. Long ago, the Spanish ruled the country. Then, army leaders took control. The army leaders did not let people have any say in their rules. This was unfair for most people. Today, people in Argentina can help make rules. They choose leaders who share their ways of thinking. Celebration. One of the biggest parties in Argentina lasts for days. People dress up as clowns and animals. They have a lot of fun. There is music, dancing, and a big parade. Food. Argentine pies can be filled with lots of different things. A family cooks meat on a grill. People in Argentina eat meat cooked on a grill. They also eat little pies filled with meat, vegetables, or cheese. Conclusion. Argentina is a country with people from all over the world. They help to make it a great place with a bright tomorrow.
To the Lakota, and other indigenous people on North America's Great Plains, the bison was an essential part of their culture ( expressed in the quote on the previous page). The bison provided meat for nutrition, a hide for clothing and shelter, bones for tools, and fat for soap. The bison was also central to their religious beliefs. So, when European settlers hunted the bison nearly to extinction, Lakota culture suffered. Culture is central to a society and the identity of its people, as well as its continued existence. Therefore, geographers study culture as a way to understand similarities and differences among societies across the world, and in some cases, to help preserve these societies. Analyzing Culture All of a group's learned behaviors, actions, beliefs, and objects are a part of culture. It is a visible force seen in a group's actions, possessions, and influence on the landscape. For example, in a large city you can see people working in offices, factories, and stores, and living in high-rise apartments or suburban homes. You might observe them attending movies, concerts, or sporting events. Culture is also an invisible force guiding people through shared belief systems, customs, and traditions. Culture is learned, in that it develops through experiences, and not merely transmitted through genetics. For example, many people in the United States have developed a strong sense of competitiveness in school and business, and believe that hard work is a key to success. These types of elements, visible and invisible, are cultural traits. A series of interrelated traits make up a cultural complex, such as the process of steps and acceptable behaviors related to greeting a person in different cultures. A single cultural artifact, such as an automobile, may represent many different values, beliefs, behaviors and traditions and be representative of a cultural complex. Since culture is learned there are many ways that one generation passes its culture to the next. Children and adults learn traits three ways: • imitation, as when learning a language by repeating sounds or behaviors from a person or television • informal instruction, as when a parent reminds a child to say "please" • formal instruction, as when students learn history in school 132 HUMAN GEOGRAPHY: AP" EDITION CULTURAL COMPLEX OF THE AUTOMOBILE The automobile provides much more than just transportation, as it reflects many values that are central to American culture. Origins of Culture The area in which a unique culture or a specific trait develops is a culture hearth. Classical Greece was a culture hearth for democracy more than 2,000 years ago. New York City was a culture hearth for rap music in the 1970s. Geographers study how cultures develop in hearths and diffuse-or spread-to other places. Geographers also study taboos, behaviors heavily discouraged by a culture. For example, many cultures have taboos against eating certain foods, such as pork or insects. What is considered taboo changes over time. In the United States, marriages between Protestants and Catholics were once taboo, but they are not widely opposed now. Traditional, Folk, and Indigenous Cultures With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, modern transportation and communication connected people as never before and led to extensive cultural mixing, especially as cities have grown. The world prior to this time was very different; however, remnants of the past are still evident in our modern cultures. Traditional, folk, and indigenous cultures share some important characteristics and are often grouped together, but they do have some subtle differences. Traditional Culture Recently, the meanings of traditional, folk, and indigenous culture have begun to merge, causing geographers to debate when each should be used. Increasingly, the term traditional culture is used to encompass all three cultural designations. All three types share the function of passing down long-held beliefs, values, and practices and are generally resistant to rapid changes in their culture. Folk Culture The beliefs and practices of small, homogenous groups of people, often living in rural areas that are relatively isolated and slow to change, are known as folk cultures. Like all cultures, they demonstrate the diverse ways that people have adapted to a physical environment. For example, people around the world learned to make shelters out of available resources, whether 3.1: INTRODUCTION TO CULTURE 133 it was snow or mud bricks or wood. However, people used similar resources such as wood differently. In Scandinavia, people used trees to build cabins. In the American Midwest, people processed trees into boards, built a frame, and attached the boards to it. Many traits of folk culture continue today. Corn was first grown in Mexico around 10,000 years ago, and it is still grown there today. While many elements of folk culture exist side by side with modern culture, there are people whose societies have changed little, if at all, from long ago. These people practice traditional cultures, those which have not been affected by modern technology or influences. They often live in remote regions, such as some small tribes in the Amazon rainforest, and have scant knowledge of the outside world. As the lines continue blurring between cultural designations, the Amish of Pennsylvania are often referenced as both folk and traditional culture. Indigenous Culture When members of an ethnic group reside in their ancestral lands, and typically possess unique cultural traits, such as speaking their own exclusive language, they are considered an indigenous culture. Some indigenous peoples have been displaced from their native lands, but still practice their indigenous culture. Native Americans in the United States, such as the Navajo, have kept indigenous cultural practices. First Nations of Canada, such as the Inuit, have also retained their indigenous culture. Globalization and Popular Culture As a result of the Industrial Revolution, improvements in transportation and communication have shortened the time required for movement, trade, or other forms of interaction between two places. This development, known as space-time compression (see Topics 1.4 and 3.6), has accelerated culture change around the world. In 1817, a freight shipment from Cincinnati needed 52 days to reach New York City. By 1850, because of canals and railroads, it took half that long. And by 1852, it took only 7 days. Today, an airplane flight takes only a few hours, and digital information takes seconds or less. Similar change has occurred on the global scale. People travel freely across the world in a matter of hours, and communication has advanced to a point where people share information instantaneously across the globe. The increased global interaction has had a profound impact on cultures, from spreading English across the world to instant sharing of news, events and music. Globalization specifically refers to the increased integration of the world economy since the 1970s. The process of intensified interaction among peoples, governments, and companies of different countries around the globe has had profound impacts on culture. The culture of the United States is intertwined with globalization. Through the influence of its corporations, Hollywood movies, and government, the United States exerts widespread influence in other countries. But other countries also shape American culture. For example, in 2019, the National Basketball Association included players from 38 countries or territories. When cultural traits- such as clothing, music, movies, and types of 134 HUMAN GEOGRAPHY: AP. EDITION businesses-spread quickly over a large area and are adopted by various groups, they become part of popular culture. Elements of popular culture often begin in urban areas and diffuse quickly through globalization processes such as the media and Internet. These elements can quickly be adopted worldwide, making them part of global culture. People around the world follow European soccer, Indian Bollywood movies, and Japanese animation known as anime. With people in many nations wearing similar clothes, listening to similar music, and eating similar food, popular cultural traits often promote uniformity in beliefs, values, and the cultural landscape across many places The cultural landscape, also known as the built environment (see Topic 3.2), is the modification of the environment by a group and is a visible reflection of that group's cultural beliefs and values. Traditional Culture to Popular Culture Popular culture emphasizes trying what is new rather than preserving what is traditional. Many people, especially older generations or those who follow a folk culture, openly resist the adoption of popular cultural traits. They do this by preserving traditional languages, religions, values, and foods. While older generations often resist the adoption of popular culture, they seldom are successful in keeping their traditional cultures from changing, especially among the young people of their society. One clash between popular and traditional culture is occurring in Brazil. As the population expands to the interior of the rain forest, many indigenous cultures, like the Yanamamo tribe, have more contact with outside groups. Remaining isolated by the forest is becoming increasingly difficult as many young people from the indigenous cultures become exposed to popular culture and begin to integrate into the larger Brazilian society. As the young people leave their communities, they are more likely to accept popular culture at the expense of their indigenous cultural heritage, which threatens the very existence of their folk culture. Traditional culture typically exhibits horizontal diversity, meaning each traditional culture has its own customs and language that makes it distinct from other culture groups. Yet, people people within each group are usually homogeneous, or very similar to each other. By contrast, popular culture typically exhibits vertical diversity, meaning that modern urban societies are usually heterogeneous, or exhibiting differences, within the society and usually contain numerous multiethnic neighborhoods. However, on a global scale popular cultures are relatively similar with the same type of malls, shops, fast food, and clothing. Urban global culture centers are not identical, yet, global cities often do not have as much horizontal diversity across space as folk cultures. 3.1: INTRODUCTION TO CULTURE 135 COMPARING TRADITIONAL AND POPULAR CULTURE Trait Traditional Culture Popular or Global Culture Society • Rural and isolated location • Urban and connected location • Homogeneous and • Diverse and multiethnic indigenous population population • Most people speak an • Many people speak a global indigenous or ethnic local language such as English or language Arabic • Horizontal diversity • Vertical diversity Social • Emphasis on community and • Emphasis on individualism and Structure conformity making choices • Families live close to each • Dispersed families other • Weakly defined gender roles • Well-defined gender roles Diffusion • Relatively slow and limited • Relatively rapid and extensive • Primarily through relocation • Often hierarchical • Oral traditions and stories • Social media and mass media Buildings and • Materials produced locally, • Materials produced in distant Housing such as stone or grass factories, such as steel or glass • Built by community or owner • Built by a business • Similar style for community • Variety of architectural styles • Different between cultures • Similar between cities • Traditional architecture • Postmodern / contemporary architecture Food • Locally produced • Often imported • Choices limited by tradition • Wide range of choice • Prepared by the family or • Purchased in restaurants community Spatial Focus • Local and regional • National and global Artifacts, Mentifacts, and Sociofacts Whether a cultural attribute is considered traditional, folk, indigenous, or popular in nature, it is valuable to differentiate between elements of culture that can be seen and those that can not. There are artifacts that comprise the material culture, which consists of tangible things, or those that can be experienced by the senses. Art, clothing, food, music, sports, and housing types are all tangible elements of culture. Another element of the study of artifacts is understanding the techniques to use or build a specific artifact. Artifacts can be unique to a particular culture, or can be shared. For example, people of all cultures need to communicate through language, yet there are many groups that possess languages unique to their culture. The ability to read, write and understand the English language is an artifact of importance for much of popular global culture. 136 HUMAN GEOGRAPHY: AP" EDITION Mentifacts comprise a group's nonmaterial culture and consist ofintangible concepts, or those not having a physical presence. Beliefs, values, practices, and aesthetics (pleasing in appearance) determine what a cultural group views as acceptable and desirable. Mentifacts can also be unique or shared. People of many cultures possess an belief in one or many deities, and often the deities are unique to that culture. The belief in a god is a mentifact-the religious building or symbols are artifacts. Cultural groups also possess sociofacts, which are the ways people organize their society and relate to one another. Taken altogether, people tend to see the whole of their culture as greater than the sum of its individual parts. Sociofacts are embodied through families, governments, sports teams, religious organizations, education systems, and other social constructs. As with artifacts and mentifacts, sociofacts may also be unique or similar to other societies. Families are the foundations of most societies, yet what constitutes the structure of a family may vary widely between cultural groups. For example, Western cultures tend to view the nuclear family, consisting of the parents and their children as the basic family unit. By contrast, in many Western African cultures the norm is the extended family, consisting of several generations and other family members such as cousins living under one roof.