Muslim Conflict

We just learned about the Church of the East in China.

Another part of early Christianity was the Muslim Conflict.

Around 610 AD, a man named Muhammad started a new religion called Islam, and the followers of Islam are called Muslims.

Christianity and Islam were both spreading around Europe, the Middle East and Africa all through the years 600 AD and 700 AD, and people fought over which one was true.

Most of the countries in the Middle East, northern Africa, and even Spain and Portugal became mostly Muslim.

Christianity was still spreading into Western Europe, but many countries that used to be Christian switched to Islam for hundreds of years.


(from: wikipedia - spread of islam)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Quartodecimanism

Tanzania

We just learned about the African country of South Africa.

Tanzania is a country in Africa on the eastern border of the continent, right on the Indian Ocean.

(from: wikipedia - tanzania)

To eat in Tanzania you might have ugali which is corn flower mixed with water and cooked to be like a dough.

(from: wikipedia - ugali)

Freddie Mercury, who was the lead singer from the band Queen was born in Tanzania, his name when he was born was Farrokh Bulsara.

(from: wikipedia - freddie mercury)

The Ngorongo Crater is the largest crater in the world. It was formed when a large volcano collapsed.

(from: wikipedia - ngorongoro crater)

Tingatinga is a painting style from Tanzania of small bright paintings on hard wood, usually made to sell to tourists.

(from: wikipedia - tingatinga (painting))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: South American Islands

Atlantic Ocean

We've already learned about the big pieces of land called continents,
such as Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.

But what about all that water in between?
Those are all the oceans of the world!

The ocean that's between North America and Europe,
and in between South America and Africa
is called the Atlantic Ocean.

It's the second biggest ocean in the world.

(from: wikipedia - atlantic ocean)

Liberia

The country of Liberia is in Africa on the west side of the continent.
Liberia has a very interesting history, because it was founded in 1820 by some Americans who wanted to end slavery. They sent freed slaves from America to Liberia to help have freedom in Africa.

The Liberian government was made to be just like America with a President, Congress and Judges.


(from: wikipedia - liberia)

Liberia's flag looks a lot like America's flag, because of their history of colonizing by America.


(from: wikipedia - flag of liberia)

To eat in Liberia you might have rice, fish or hot peppers.
Some of the food and recipes in Liberia come from the South in the USA.


(from: wikipedia - liberian cuisine)

Liberia has rainforests with wild animals, and also a long coastline with beaches on the ocean.

(from: wikipedia - liberia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Turkey

Nigeria

We've learned about countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

Let's move on to the continent of Africa!

The country with the most people in Africa is called Nigeria.


(from: wikipedia - nigeria)

To eat in Nigeria you might have suya, which is a spicy barbecued meat on a stick.

(from: wikipedia - suya)

Hakeem Olajuwon was a basketball player from Nigeria, that came to the US to play basketball. He was 7 feet tall, and had the most blocked shots of any basketball player ever with 3,830!

(from: wikipedia - hakeem olajuwon)

There are many wild animals in Nigeria, like the elephants in the Yankari National Park.

(from: wikipedia - yankari national park)

A special musical instrument in Nigeria is called the Ekwe, it is like a hollowed out log that is used as a drum.

(from: wikipedia - ekwe)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Argentina

Angola

We just learned about the country of Ivory Coast.

Angola is a country on the Southeast coast of Africa, on the Atlantic ocean.

(from: wikipedia - angola)

The flag of Angola is a red stripe above a black stripe, with a wheel, knife and star in the middle.

The red stands for the blood of the people fighting for independence.
The black is for the continent of Africa.
The wheel is for the machine workers and the knife is for the farmers.

(from: wikipedia - flag of angola)

To eat in Angola you might have calulu, which is dried fish with vegetabls and rice.

(from: wikipedia - angolan cuisine)

There is a place called Miradouro da Lua which means viewpoint of the moon that many people go to visit.

(from: wikipedia - angola)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sweden

Spotted-Necked Otter

We just learned about the Eurasian Otter.

Another animal in the same family is the Spotted-Necked Otter, also called the speckle-throated otter or hydrictis maculicollis.

This otter is a lot like the ones from North America or Europe, but it lives on the continent of Africa.
It grows to be about 75 centimeters long, weighting about 6 kilograms, and has white spots on its neck.

Spotted-Necked Otters live in countries like Zambia where they can hunt for fish and other animals in the lakes and rivers of Africa.


(from: wikipedia - spotted neck otter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Zanzibar Red Colobus

Akan Goldweights

We just learned about the Burkina Faso Masks.

Another work of African sculpture is the Akan Goldweights, made around 1400 AD in West Africa.

These are sculptures that were used as weights to measure how much gold someone was trading.
Each sculpture had a different weight, so if someone had found some gold and wanted to trade it in, they would use different weights to figure out how much money it was all worth.

The weights were made as different shapes to tell stories about the Akan people of West Africa.
Each shape had different meanings, like a shield might tell a story about bravery, or swords with two sharp edges might mean that two people were working together for peace.

There are many of these old gold weights in the world in museums, and people even today make them as souvenirs or gifts to keep as a reminder of the past.


(from: wikipedia - akan goldweights)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Flying Horse of Gansu

Christian nations in 600 AD

We just learned about the Saint David.

There were a lot of Christian nations in 600 AD.

Around 325 AD there had been a lot of people going around telling people about God and Jesus, but there were only some spots around the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

By 600 AD, Christianity was in Europe at Great Britain, France, Spain, Greece and more.
It was in the Middle East through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and more.
And it was in Africa at parts of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.


(from: wikipedia - christianity in the 7th century)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Didache - The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles

African Wildcat

We just learned about the Chinese Mountain Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the African Wildcat.

This cat lives in Africa & Asia.
It has grey or red fur, with black tufts on its ears, stripes on its face and legs, and a ringed tail.

The African Wildcat is a small cat, about 2 feet long and weighing about 10 pounds.
When it gets scared, it puffs its hair out to look bigger, but it usually hides out in the bushes.

We know that humans have kept cats as pets for a long time, and one time someone found ancient bones of an African Wildcat with a human, going back 9,500 years!



(from: wikipedia - african wildcat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jellyfish Bell

Patas Monkey

We just learned about the Allen's Swamp Monkey.

Another kind of Old World Monkey is the Patas Monkey, also called the wadi monkey, hussar monkey or erythrocebus patas.

This monkey lives on the ground in the areas of Africa called the Savannah, which is grasslands with some trees.
They grow to be about 2 feet long, and weigh about 27 pounds.
These monkeys can very fast, at 34 miles per hour they are the fastest of all the primates!
On their faces, these monkeys have what looks like a mustache.

When these monkeys live together, they are usually in big groups of all female monkeys, up to 60 females together, and sometimes no male monkeys.
Male monkeys will sometimes live in groups together, but usually they just live by themselves.

Some people believe that these monkeys with mustaches were the animals that gave Dr. Seuss the idea for the Lorax.
They live mostly by special whistling thorn acacia trees, that might have given him the idea for the truffala trees.



(from: wikipedia - patas monkey)



Segera Retreat - rare Patas Monkeys - Wilderness Safaris


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cougar

Gaboon Viper

We just learned about the Savu Python.

Another type of snake is the Gaboon Viper.

This snake is part of the viper family, which are snakes that have long fangs and use venom.

The Gaboon viper is the world's heaviest viper, has the longest fangs of any viper, and also uses the most venom per bite of any viper.
They can be over 40 pounds, and over 6 feet long!

These snakes live in Africa, and even though they are very big and dangerous, they almost never attack people.
Their venom is enough to kill a person if they do not get to a hospital quickly, but some of these vipers have even been stepped on and still have not bitten the person.

They are checkered with black triangles and white hourglass shapes.

(from: wikipedia - gaboon viper)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rough Collie

Tunisia

We just learned about the country of Chad.

Tunisia is a country on the North East part of Africa.
It is on the Mediterranean Sea, and is very close to Italy.


(from: wikipedia - tunisia)

The flag of Tunisia is a red rectangle, with a white crescent and star in the middle.
The red is for the blood of the people in their fight for freedom.
The white is for peace, and the crescent and star are for the beliefs of the people of Tunisia.

(from: wikipedia - flag of tunisia)

To eat in Tunisia you might have lablabi, which is a soup made with chick peas, garlic and cumin spice served with bread.

(from: wikipedia - lablabi)

In the city of El Djem there are some very large old buildings, like a giant ampitheater where people used to watch performances.

(from: wikipedia - tunisia)

The flower Jasmine is very popular in Tunisia.

If a man is wearing white jasmine on his left ear, it means he is not married.
If someone gives another person white jasmine it means they are in love.
And if someone gives another person jasmine that is does not have any nice smell it means they are not being nice.


(from: wikipedia - culture of tunisia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Russia

Niger

We just learned about the country of Zambia.

Niger (sounds like "nah-ee-jer") is a country in Southern part of Africa.


(from: wikipedia - niger)

The flag of Niger has an orange stripe at the top, then a white strip with an orange circle in the middle, and a green stripe at the bottom.

The orange stripe is for the desert, the white stripe is for purity, the green stripe is for hope and the plants and trees, and the orange circle is for the sun and freedom.

(from: wikipedia - flag of niger)

To eat in Niger, you might have jollof rice which is rice, tomatoes, onion, salt and red pepper, with some meat added.

(from: wikipedia - jollof rice)

The Erg of Bilma is a large desert in Niger.

(from: wikipedia - erg of bilma)

There is a festival in Niger called Guérewol, where men dress up in outfits, get their faces painted, dance and sing to try to get young women to marry them.

(from: wikipedia - guérewol)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Finland

Lion

We just learned about Cats.

The big cat known as the king of the jungle is the Lion.

Lions mostly live in Africa, but there are also some in the Middle East and Europe.

Lions are big cats that are part of the "Felidae" family.
The male lions have a big mane, and all lions have a hairy fluff of fur at the end of their tails.
They are usually 6 or 7 feet long, and they can weigh over 300 pounds!

Lions live together in a family that is called a "pride".
A pride is usually a few grown up males, then some females and little lion cubs.
When the little lion cubs are about 3 years old, the boy lions are sent off to live on their own, and the girl lions stay with the pride.
When boy lions are out by themselves, sometimes they will group together with a few other boy lions until they find a home where they join a new pride as a grown up male lion.

Lions can make a lot of sounds like purring and meowing, but they are best known for the lion's roar.
It is so loud that it can be heard up to 5 miles away.

There is one type of lion called a white lion, that has white or very light colored fur.







(from: wikipedia - lion)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Purple Striped Jelly

Mali

We just learned about the country of Niger.

Mali is a country in the north west part of Africa.


(from: wikipedia - mali)

The flag of Mali is green, gold and red.
The green is for the plants growing in the country.
The gold is for purity and the precious metals in the ground like gold.
The red is for the blood of the Mali people who fought for freedom.


(from: wikipedia - flag of mali)

To eat in Mali you might have millet, which is a type of grain.

(from: wikipedia - millet)

The city of Timbuktu is in the country of Mali.
Since it has a silly sounding name, and was part of many stories written by a famous person named Leo Africanus, many people thought it was just a made up name and not a real place!

(from: wikipedia - timbuktu)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Netherlands

Ivory Coast

We just learned about the African country of Cameroon.

Another African country is Ivory Coast.

The Ivory Coast is a country on the West coast of Africa, right on the Atlantic Ocean.

(from: wikipedia - ivory coast)

The flag of the Ivory Coast is three vertical stripes. Orange for the land, white for peace, and green for hope and the forest.

This flag is interesting, because it is just like the flag of Ireland, except Irelands is green-white-orange instead of orange-white-green.
(from: wikipedia - flag of ivory coast)

To eat in the Ivory Coast, you might have yassa, which is a spicy food cooked with onions and lemons.

(from: wikipedia - yassa (food))

The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace is a huge church in the town of Yamoussoukro.

(from: wikipedia - basilica of our lady of peace of yamoussoukro)

The Ivory Coast was given it's name because they used to sell lots of ivory there. Ivory is made from the tusks of elephants and other animals.
In the past many things were made from ivory, like piano keys. We now have new ways to make piano keys, and we know that killing elephants for their tusks is wrong, so it is against the law to kill elephants for their tusks.

(from: wikipedia - elephant)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Norway