Historical Sunday: China - Part Two

     Hello everybody and welcome back to another installment of Nations Made Fun! I'll be your host, Mr. Nations, your tour guide to the world. Today we'll be finishing up our discussion about China and its rich history. Today we will start the common era of China. Let's dive straight into it!

     We left off on the Han Dynasty, but I later realized I forgot the Qin dynasty, an important dynasty, so I'll fill you in on it now. so let's start.

     Leader of the Qin Dynasty Qin Shi Huang was regarded as one of the most efficient, but also the most unpopular regime. It was the first and shortest imperial dynasty and was known for great projects such as the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army.

     After the Han Dynasty brings us to the Sui Dynasty, but it's a pretty uneventful little dynasty, so I'll skip it. Moving on to the Tang Dynasty, this dynasty was known for its longevity. Clocking in at three centuries, this dynasty was the golden age for poetry, glazed pottery, and woodblock printing. Unfortunately, a rebellion ended the long reign of the Tang Dynasty.

     Modern China brings us communist stability and peace with all nations. Unfortunately, China isn't doing so hot, with its 1,000,000,000 struggling with pollution and many other factors. Fortunately, the Chinese government is helping with this issue. We all hope that China improves over the next few years because millennia of history would be lost. Until tomorrow, Mr. Nations out!

     

     Picture of China


  Fun Facts: 

• One in every five people is Chinese.
• Toilet paper was invented in China in the 1300s. Unfortunately, it was reserved for emperors.
• Despite its large size, China is all in one time zone.

     Sources: https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/china-history.htm

     https://www.factretriever.com/china-facts

Historical Sunday: China - Part One - Ancient Times

     Hello everybody and welcome back to another installment of Nations Made Fun! In this edition, we're going to be discussing the rich history of China, it's ups and downs and major accomplishments. Let's get straight into it!

     (Note: 3,000 years of history is going to be extremely difficult to fit into two posts, so I'm going to have to summarize a lot of history. Just hang in there. I promise I'll get you guys through it.)

     It is believed that Chinese civilization began along the banks of the Huang He River, otherwise known as the Yellow River and continued to spread from there until the Bronze Age culture reached its peak. After the Bronze Age, China broke into the warring kingdoms for 200 years and its reunification marked the beginning of the imperial China age.

     During the Shang Dynasty, the earliest form of writing was found. The writing was carved into whale bones, also known as oracle bones. Beliefs were also spread through China during the Shang Dynasty. For example, there was a practice known as the Mandate of Heaven. The entire premise of it was that when a new emperor got picked to rule China, they would have something called the Mandate of Heaven. If for some reason a drought or earthquake were to occur, the Chinese would blame it on the ruler for falling out of favor with the gods and would later be overthrown.

     Skipping a few of the uneventful dynasties, that takes us to the Han Dynasty that is widely known for opening the Silk Road
 
Map of the Silk Road:
 

     In the Han Dynasty, a bureaucratic system in which promotion was based on merit and not family ties was adopted as stated in the guidelines of Confucianism. This was when agriculture and commerce grew very rapidly.

     I will finish this post by doing the common era of China next week. Until tomorrow, Mr. Nations out!

     Sources: https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/china-history.htm

Historical Sunday - Canada

     Hello everybody and welcome to another installment of Nations Made Fun! I'll be your host, Mr. Nations, your guide to the wacky world of well... the world! Today we're going to be discussing the history of Canada, so let's get right into it!

     Canada is the second-largest country in the world (after Russia.) Despite its great size, Canada is actually a very sparsely populated country. Because of how beautiful the landscape in Canada is, writer Anna Brownell Jameson, who explored Ontario in 1837, said that the country was a rather beautiful country because her actual quote is extremely long and filled with long words. In short, the country was beautiful in early times.

     The country is officially bilingual in English and French because England and France held land there in early times, resulting in many of its residents speaking the languages. The residents of Canada are often held as role models for the world, often being regarded as the nicest people in the world. I don't quite know if that's true or not, by I'll take the rest of the world's word for it.

     I'm sorry about the sparse information about the history of Canada. There are really not a lot of good sites for the history of Canada, so I had to deal with what I got. I'm really sorry guys.

     Fun Facts:

• Canada is the most educated country in the world with over half of its residents sporting a college degree of some kind.
• Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
• Some residents of Canada leave their cars unlocked to offer an escape to pedestrians that encounter polar bears.

     Picture of Canada:

     Sources:

     https://www.britannica.com/place/Canada

     https://www.factslides.com/s-Canada

Historical Sunday: The United States of America - Discovery - Part Two

     Hello everybody and welcome back to another edition of Nations Made Fun! Today we will be finishing up our review of the United States with a little more history. Let's get straight into it, shall we?

     When we left off last Sunday, we were finishing up our explanation of the Revolutionary War. We've already discussed the Civil War on last War Wednesday, so we're going to jump right into the most gruesome war the United States has ever seen, and that is World War II.

     World War II was the worst war mankind has ever seen. It spanned across all the continents (excluding Antarctica) and all of our oceans. The estimated death toll for such a war clocks in at a whopping 50 million military and civilian lives, including the Jewish people that Hitler so brutally executed.

     Among the horror, World War II coincidentally ended the Great Depression by forcing hundreds of thousands of people to go into the defense industries.

     Many believe that the war was sparked when a small political party leader promised his country financial success if only they were to follow his way of life. That political party was the Nazis and the radical political leader was Adolf Hitler. As he amassed more and more supporters in favor of his party, the German leader promoted Hitler to the Chancellor position. After the German president died, Hitler was made the president and he appointed himself to the supreme overlord of the entire government. This is how Hitler gained control of Germany and tried to take over all of Europe.

     As many know, World War II ended shortly after the U.S. bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki after Japan launched an attack on Hawaii later known as Pearl Harbor. Things have been pretty chill for America since World War II. No country is safe from the brutality of war, and America is no exception.

     I think that that will be it for today's post. Thank you for reading and sticking around for an entire week. I know I don't ask much, but if you would please share this with any friends you might have, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you and good night!

     Sources: https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II,
     https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/world-war-2.cfm

Historical Sunday: The United States of America - Part One - Discovery

     Hello and welcome to my first informative post on this site! Today we will be discussing the history of the United States of America, where most of my viewers are probably based out of.

     The United States was founded on July 4th, 1776, but America's history dates much farther back than that. It was first discovered by the Vikings, but Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci take all the credit. These two men had a major role in discovering the Americas. As you might have guessed, North and South America were named after Amerigo.

     After its discovery, America quickly became a flourishing country built on the backs of the hardworking men and women fresh off the Mayflower, the famous British ship that sent several settlers to America. In fact, America had not yet gained its name. It was mostly comprised of several colonies, which would later become known as America.

     One problem still remained, unfortunately. The U.S. was controlled by the oppressive British people. One of the glaring problems was taxes. The British taxed anything they could, virtually bankrupting the average man. This "little problem" would soon escalate into a gory seven-year war that would be fought only for the cause of independence for the U.S.

     Once independence was established, America resumed daily life as usual. Until the next war, of course. The Civil War was another violent and nasty war that is too gnarly to get into today, but maybe on War Wednesday, we can.

     Now, almost two and a half centuries since the Revolutionary War, America is still thriving. Although it has had its fair share of ups and downs, America is widely regarded as the richest country in the world. Who knows where fate will take our prosperous country next?

Stats and facts:

Date founded: July 4th, 1776
Average national income per year: $59,039
Size (in kilometers) 9.834 million square kilometers.
Population: 327.2 million.

Fun facts:

• 100 acres of pizza are served every day.
• The U.S. flag was designed by a high school student.
• There is no official language.

Location on a world map:

Map of the U.S.