Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Europe Transformed

There were many different reasons for the decline of the Roman Empire. There are many different theories as to why Rome fell, but know body knows for sure. One of the main reasons why people think that Rome fell was because the lacked in military strength. The barbarians wanted part of the Roman Empire and at the army was lacking in strength so the barbarians easily defeated the Romans and took over that part of the empire. Another reason for the fall of Rome was that the taxes became too high and the economy became unsteady. As the taxes rose people were unable to pay them and would be thrown in jail or forced to pay heavy fines that they would have to sell all of their stuff to pay off. People would then lose all of their stuff and die or get sick from having such little resources. Because of the high taxing merchants would charge prices that were unreasonable and unfair for the necessities due to the high taxes. The government tried to make a fixed price for each item, but these rules were not followed because the merchants were desperate for more money. This vicious cycle went on for a while until the economy crashed.  Another theory as to why the Roman Empire fell was that there was an epidemic. In that time period it was easy to spread sickness in such a highly populated area. Also around that time period the sickness would go untreated due to a lack of medicine. The people would also not get treated because with the high prices and taxes they would not be able to pay for the medicine. Another theory as to why Rome fell as that when one of the Roman rulers, Theodisius, died he split the empire between his two sons who were not equipped for ruling an empire on their own. People would take advantage of the inadequate leaders and battled them for power. This was one of the main reasons as to why Rome fell.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Merchant


In the ancient Middle East a mathematician named Al-Khwarizmi discovered algebra. Al-Khwarizmi was working in the House of Wisdom in 825 when he wrote a book called "The Book of Addition and Subtraction According to the Hindu Calculation." This book made the basic number system of 0-10. This number system is now used worldwide. Al-Khwarizmi then wrote another book called "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing." This book taught algebra that we now use everyday to help discover many things. 

Doctor





The Middle East was one of the first places to make a major impact in medicine. The Muslim's were the first to devlope hospitals and more advanced forms of medicine. The pharmacists made medicine from plants, herbs, animals, and minerals. Doctors would use animals such as pigs to learn the body and what hapens when you do something to a part of the body. From this the Muslims devloped surgery. The medical milestones that the ancient Muslims made helped the advanced medical technology we have today.