Thirty-Fifth Week Seventh Grade History Essay

          This week was the second to last week of the Ron Paul Curriculum Seventh Grade History Class. This means that it was the “world tour”. The world tour takes up the first and last two weeks of the course and it goes over each section of the world, describing how far each place has made it during the time of the fall of Rome and the 1700s. This week, I learned about the Middle East, Oceania, Australia, Africa, and parts of Asia. In this essay, I am going to explain what was going on in Africa during the 1700s.

          To understand the geography of Africa, it is located just below Europe. It is one of the largest continents. Africa has almost every climate except for tundra. This includes plains, desert, jungle, forest, beach, and more. It is home to the longest river in the world, the Nile River. Most of the big civilizations, such as Egypt, are organized along this river.

          Now that I have mentioned it, I will start with Egypt. Egypt is the oldest civilization in Africa and it is famous for its pyramids and its other man-made enormous structures. Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh for many years. A pharaoh was not only seen as the king of Egypt, but also the god during that time. Egypt was very strong for a time, but it was almost always under the rule of another empire. Some of these empires were the Persian Empire and the Roman Empire. However, after the fall of the Roman Empire and Egypt’s freedom, Egypt quickly found and adopted a new religion, which was the religion of Islam.

          Another large civilization that was built near the Nile river was Axum, or modern day Ethiopia. Ethiopia eventually adopted some elements of Egyptian and Greek culture, even though originally being an Arab style country. The country traded along the Red Sea coast with Middle Eastern countries. Ethiopia had a strong line of kings that it was ruled by. It was always a very rich and strong country, but it grew particularly wealthy in the first century. Something very unique about this civilization was that it was never ruled by another country or Empire, unlike Egypt. It was always very strong and could easily fight back, making it a very famous and unique country today and then.

          Besides these two countries, there were also many other small civilizations popping up in Africa by the 18th century. These would later make Africa into what it is today. As well as African tribes, there were also European colonies being started in Africa as well, such as the British and the French. After slavery had been abolished in England, the British needed something to trade. They noticed that there were rich natural resources in Africa, such as oil, and they started to colonize the coasts of Africa.

          I hope you have learned something new from this essay about Africa. It is one of the largest continents and has almost every climate! It is home to the Nile River, which is the largest river in the world, as well as some man-made structures, such as the Egyptian pyramids and the Great Sphinx. These pyramids were built by Pharaohs as burial tombs. Pharaohs ruled Egypt until it was taken over by the Persians and later by the Romans. On the other hand, Axum, or Ethiopia was never ruled by any outside force. It had a strong line of kings and was always very rich and wealthy. As well as other, smaller, African tribes beginning in Africa, the Europeans were starting to colonize the coasts. Africa is a very rich and beautiful country and I am so excited to learn more about it.