• blood oranges


    The Neolithic Revolution

    There once was a man who discovered

    How to domesticate a pig and its mother.

    He learned how to farm

    Without causing any harm

    And settled next to his brother.
                                       E. Napp
     Mary Leakey

    A famous anthropologist was she

     Excavating bones in the Rift Valley.

    She knew life began

    On Africa’s land.

    “It is the birthplace of man,” said Leakey.
                                                                                            E. Napp          
    Mary Leakey



    Archaeologists excavate

    Artifacts that humans make.

    They learn of the past

    From pieces that last

    And educate rather than forsake.
                                       E. Napp



    Mesopotamia was a land,

    A fertile and arable land.

    The rivers did flow

    While the crops did grow

    Where early civilization began.
                                                E. Napp
    The Code of Hammurabi or The First Written law Code
    Hammurabi was a king
    Who collected legal things.
    An eye for an eye
    But the rich could buy
    Freedom from pain and harsh things.
                                                              E. Napp
    The Nile River Valley
    From South to North, the Nile flows;
    Bringing silt and helping traders go.
    Its Pharoah's divine
    And mummified.
    With fertile land, farmers reap and sow.
                                                        E. Napp
    Nile River
    Harappan or Indus River Valley Civilization and Urban Planning
    They planned their cities carefully,
    Laying bricks the same size happily.
    They were advanced,
    Cultivated plants,
    But we can't read their writing sadly.
                                            E. Napp
    Harappan Civilization
    China's Sorrow: The Huang He or Yellow River
    Civilization in China began
    Near the Yellow River's land.
    The people could farm
    But flooding did harm
    When its waters covered the land.
                                       E. Napp
    Yellow River
    Siddhartha, son of Indian king,
    Discovered the cause of suffering.
    "Selfish desire
    Will spread like fire
    Unless you get rid of that thing."
                                                                   E. Napp
    "Come home a victor or dead on your shield,"
    Said wife to husband as he marched on field.
    Weak babies will die
    Without mother's sigh
    And enslaved helots will farm in the fields.
                                                        E. Napp
    Democracy was born in this land
    Where citizens vote, only free man.
    Slaves and women
    Foreign born men
    Could not vote in this European land.
                                         E. Napp
    Roman Patricians
    A Patrician was a rich man
    Who had wealth and owned lots of land.
    He could represent
    And even dissent
    Having more rights than the common man.
                                                 E. Napp
    Roman Senators
    Roman Contributions: Government and Law
    The Romans gave us many things
    Like government and legal rulings.
    So, if you can't prove
    That a man did do,
    Set him free without saying a thing.
                                         E. Napp
    Roman Empire
    Asoka: Mauryan King of India
    He was one of the Mauryan kings
    Who renounced violent things.
    His words were inscribed
    On pillars so high
    To help all people learn peaceful things.
                                                    E. Napp
    Pillars of Asoka
    The Gupta Empire: The Golden Age of Hindu Culture
    The Guptas had a golden age.
    Kalidasa wrote Sanskrit on the page.
    Their math did last
    Zero's from the past
    And you'll see decimals on your math page.
                                                               E. Napp
    Gupta Empire
    The Mayas
    The Mayas farmed by cutting down trees
    Then built pyramids and great cities.
    They made the zero;
    Were trading heroes
    Until they abandoned their cities.
                                                        E. Napp
    Mayan Pyramid
    The Mandate of Heaven
    The gods do pick and they do choose
    Who'll be the next emperor to rule.
    But if you do bad,
    You'll soon feel sad
    When another dynasty rules.
                                                          E. Napp
    Mandate of Heaven
    The Han Dynasty
    The Han are compared to the Romans
    They increased trade for merchants and nomads.
    They had a hard test,
    Gave scholars no rest;
    And built roads just like the Romans.
                                                  E. Napp
    Han Dynasty
    The Great Wall of China
    Built to protect China's north,
    Labored on by an incredible force;
    It kept nomads out
    Made communists shout
    "That wall hurt our peasant force!"
    The Great Wall of China
    There are spirits in the land and sea.
    There are natural forces that we see.
    The spirits exist
    And do insist
    That we worship the nature we see.
                                               E. Napp
    Abraham: Founder of Judaism
    Abraham came to believe
    That there was one God not spirits in trees.
    God gave him the land;
    He called it Canaan
    And said, "What a great God are thee."
    Abraham's Journey
    The Fall of Rome: The Birth of the Middle Ages
    The fall of Rome made Caesar cry.
    The central rule did collapse and die.
    No longer one king
    But new ways did bring:
    Lord, serf, and the feudal hierarchy.
                                                       E. Napp
    Fall of Rome
    A Medieval Serf
    A serf is bound to his Lord's land:
    Not slave or free but part of the land.
    He can't be sold
    But will work till old,
    Wanting always freedom from his Lord's land.
                                                                           E. Napp
    Medieval Serf
    The Black Death: Plague from Asia to Western Europe
    On trade routes, infected fleas on black rat
    Carried a terrible disease that
    Made people die,
    Pope and priests sigh,
    "What have we done to bring God's wrath?"
                                                                     E. Napp
    The Black Death
    Galileo Galilei: A Heliocentric Perspective
    "I looked at the sky and clearly did see
    That the sun is the center for you and me.
    The Earth does revolve,
    Thinking must evolve,
    But the Catholic Church does not like me."
                                                                 E. Napp
    Galileo Galilei
    Machiavelli's The Prince
    Machiavelli once said,
    It is better to be feared than dead.
    Kings do what they must
    Or it's dust to dust
    For the powerful one keeps his head.
                                                               E. Napp
    Mohandas K. Gandhi
    Gandhi wanted India to be free.
    So, he boycotted cloth; marched to the sea.
    An eye for an eye,
    He would not try.
    Nonviolence would make India free.
                                                         E. Napp
    The Renaissance
    In Medieval times, they lived to die,
    Thinking of Heaven not a hard life's sigh.
    But new ideas came
    And artists' exclaimed,
    "Celebrate life, create new things, revive."
                                                          E. Napp
    Louis XIV
    He was the absolute ruler of France
    Who controlled the nation through sword and lance.
    He made the rule
    Punished any fool
    Who questioned his divine rule in France.
                                                                         E. Napp
    Louis XIV
    Peter the Great
    Russia will have a window to the west.
    It will look to Europe and be the best.
    A navy on the sea,
    Modern it will be,
    Said the Tsar as he moved the culture west.
                                                                        E. Napp
    Peter the Great
    Toussaint L'Ouverture
    Toussaint was a great man indeed.
    He helped Haitian slaves who were in need
    Of liberty
    And being free.
    Fighting the French, he planted freedom's seed.
                                                                            E. Napp
    Toussaint L'Ouverture
    Congress of Vienna
    Metternich hated revolution.
    He wanted order; old institutions.
    Balance of power;
    Back to old hour;
    He tried to stop future revolutions.
                                                                           E. Napp
    Congress of Vienna