The Suez Canal :: History Historical Essays

The Suez Canal Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, a Frenchman had long dreamed of a canal that pierced the Isthmus. For most of his life, this was simply a dream. He had made a living for himself by holding political positions in Tunis, Egypt, Rotterdam, Malaga, and Barcelona; had been minister at Madrid, and, finally, at Rome. Something about Egypt had struck him in a way that never truly let go. After roughly twenty five years of service, the French government notified Lesseps that what he was doing in Rome was not being supported. Lesseps managed to quell the problem in 1849, but the experience had left a distasteful mark on him that he couldn’t resolve. This led to his resignation from the service, and into retirement at the age of fifty. Now with the end of his career, he was free in a way that he hadn’t been in a long time. His thoughts again and more frequently drifted to Egypt. What once a dream, was now a possibility. Using connections he had made in Egypt during his time in the service, he made contact with them and immediately following their positive response embarked on a trip to investigate his ever more possible dream. The construction of this project faced formidable opposition. Lesseps appealed to Napoleon for help. Napoleon agreed, and helped put the wheels of this project in motion. It was not until 1869 that the canal was finally opened its one hundred mile stretch completely. It was again modified in 1885 substantially to further increased efficiency. The idea behind the Suez Canal was not invented for the first time in the 19th century. It actually dates back to Ancient Egypt and the Pharos. The Pharos went as Far as building smaller canals in the Nile delta in the Red sea. The first Canal to be excavated is linked strongly by evidence to the Pharaoh Necho in the 6th century BC. During the Persian invasion of Egypt, King Darius gave instructions for a canal to be built which started in the Gulf of Suez and ran to the Bitter Lake. The second part of the canal ran from the Bitter Lake to the Nile delta. This canal was known as the Red Sea Canal. This canal fell into disrepair, but was rectified by the Roman Emperor Trajan, and yet again by the Arab king Amr Ibn-Al-Aas.

Gorilla Behavior and Human Behavior Essay

Gorillas are often seen in the movies and television shows are big monster that people have to learn to deal with in the long run. Sometimes, gorillas are portrayed as scary creatures. There are times, however, when gorillas are shown as friendly animals which are a lot like human beings. Gorillas can be described and defined in many ways, especially with the help of mass media. Then again, in a scientific context, here is a gorilla really is: The Gorillas Population: There are a lot of living primates in the world, and the largest of its kind are gorillas. These are herbivores that live by dwelling on the ground. Most gorillas are found in Africa, especially in the forests of the said country (Alverdes, 1969). Gorillas survive very well in subtropical or tropical forests although a lot of them thrive in mountains and in different elevations. Elevated areas where gorillas can be found are the Virunga Volcanoes in Albertine Rift. Some gorillas thrive in the lowlands, too, where lots of them are found in marshes, swamps and thick forests (Alverdes, 1969). Gorillas Family Life: The family life of gorillas shows how much similar they are to humans. Gorillas are considered social creatures who typically build harems. Harems, in this context, means that silver back male gorillas will live with its offsprings and a lot of adult female gorillas (Alverdes, 1969). Then again, with the gorillas that live in mountains, only 40% of which have various closely-related male gorillas (Alverdes, 1969). Generally, gorillas groups contain more females than males. In fact, males in the gorillas family are considered â€Å"left-overs†. Male gorillas go round and about the forests alone. The male gorillas, being loners themselves, make up only five to ten percent of the general population of gorillas. An all-male group of gorillas even exists, all of which are found in elevated areas. This all-male gorillas group is called the mountain gorillas (Alverdes, 1969). Gorilla groups come in different sizes. On the average, there are only four to ten members in a gorilla group. It was in the Central African Republic where the largest gorilla group was found. The largest gorillas group was made up of 52 gorillas (Alverdes, 1969). Gorilla groups have leaders, too. What, then, happens when the leader of the gorilla group dies? It is either the whole group just gets dissolved, or a gorilla takes over. Like humans, gorillas have standards, too. The only gorilla who can take over the leadership is the son of the leader who passed away. If not, then it should be the subordinate silver back male gorilla (Alverdes, 1969). These western lowland gorillas are one of the sub-species of the family of gorillas. Each group is composed of ten gorillas and sometimes only six. The leader is the strongest and the fiercest male called the silver back gorilla (Alverdes, 1969). The leaders of such group are challenged, too, to know who deserves to take over. Adolescent males wait until they grow big enough for the challenge and if they don’t get the leadership in their hands, they can always leave home and be the leader of the new family he will have to build (Alverdes, 1969). Recent studies show that the 100,000 lowland gorillas in the western part of Africa are no longer 100,000. Today, there may only be around 50,000 gorillas left because of the trade in ape meat (which is illegal) and also because of a disease caused by ebola virus (Alverdes, 1969). Gorillas – A Lot Like Humans? Now here are some behavioral patterns that make gorillas and human beings similar to each other: Gorillas are generally aggressive creatures. Their aggressive behaviors found in the human population are their habit of headlong charge, roaring very loudly and beating their own chest (Derbyshire, 2007). With this, it goes to show that gorillas have a macho reputation like humans. However, despite this reputation, these creatures are very gentle especially when it is their time to eat their meals. Researches show that they also have the habit of cleaning their faces and fingers especially when they just finished consuming their food in a messy manner. If humans use water and soap to clean their fingers and faces, gorillas use giant leaves to replace what humans would call as napkins (Derbyshire, 2007). Dr Noelle Kumpel, a researcher from the Zoological Society of London in West Africa, was surprised when he saw how gorillas used leaves as napkins. How do gorillas do this? They simply tear big leaves from trees and plants. Gorillas wipe their hands and mouths after a meal. No one can deny that is a very basic human activity because before and after eating, humans really clean themselves up. They wash their hands and clean their mouths and dry themselves with a dry towel (Derbyshire, 2007). It has been mentioned awhile ago that gorillas, like humans, are social beings, too. Whatever image of gorillas there is that is portrayed on the television and the cinema are not any inch close to how they are in person. Gorillas are very gentle and delicate creatures, sometimes even gentler and more delicate than human beings. Members of the Zoological Society of London in West Africa observed the behaviors of gorillas in Gabon, a conversation park where lowland gorillas are found. They learned and witnessed with their very own eyes how gentle gorillas are compared to chimpanzees. They show sings of sympathy, friendship and leadership among themselves (Derbyshire, 2007). Another amazing thing about gorillas is that, like humans, they care about their diet, too. Observers discovered that gorillas follow a vegetarian diet. They only eat whatever they see around them, but it is limited only to fruits and leaves (Derbyshire, 2007). Like human beings, gorillas care about how they look. If they see a mud, bug or a flee in another gorilla’s body, they take it away from that gorilla’s body. It clearly goes to show that gorillas take pride in their hair which they consider a very significant part of their family life as gorillas (Derbyshire, 2007). Another surprising behavior that gorillas have is that they are technologically minded. If their cousin chimpanzees use stones, twigs and other tools to get some food, gorillas do it differently (Derbyshire, 2007). Like humans, gorillas find better ways to make life easier and more convenient for them. Gorillas use sticks to get to the other side of the pools and swamps or in some other areas they will otherwise not reach without the help of the sticks (Derbyshire, 2007). In A Nutshell: To summarize the whole study, what, in general, makes the gorillas similar to human beings? It is how they behave in a given environment and how they react to situations. It is with the way gorillas try to survive. It is with their ability to think. Not all animals will think about removing flees from another animal’s hair because only gorillas and human beings know the value of cleanliness and hygiene. The same goes with how gorillas tear giant leaves from trees and plants to clean themselves up after a meal. What makes gorillas and human beings a lot like each other is their ability to think, plan and execute the plans to come up with a result. It is basically about wanting to win the battle of survival called life which other creatures wouldn’t even be aware of. Works Cited: Alverdes, Friedrich. â€Å"The Social Life in the Animal World. † Routledge Press, 1999. Ciochon, Russell and John Fleagle. â€Å"Primate Evolution and Human Origins. † Aldine Transaction Press, 1987. Derbyshire, David. 20 June 2007. â€Å"How gorillas have perfect manners at meal times. † Daily Mail. 13 May 2008 . Fossey, Dian. â€Å"Gorillas in the Mist. † Houghton Mifflin Books, 1988. Taylor, Andrea Beth and Michele Lynn Goldsmith. â€Å"Gorillas Biology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. † Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Cultures Showing Respect and Honor - 801 Words

Attention Getter: Have you ever thought what other cultures do for traditions when it comes to showing respect and honor to the one that has died? The Hmong have many traditions that may surprise or even shock you. Motivation Step: We love our family and friends and every culture will have some sort of funeral services to honor their loved ones passing on. The Hmong are no different. Claim: A funeral service is personal and reflects a families beliefs, culture and traditions. Preview step: During this speech I will be telling you traditions of the Hmong culture that are different than the ones in America. But in the end they are traditions that show honor and respect to our loved ones who died. The cultural traditions of Hmong funerals goes way back to Asia. More particularly Laos. However there have been some changes in the practices with those Hmongs living in the United States. Some things that have changed or even done away with. It was this past fall that my mother’s father, or my grandfather passed away. I will tell you of the traditions that we do and how they differ from some of the old traditions of the past. First off one thing that you will need to know is that our funeral services will last three to four days. Old traditions say that a funeral service should last about seven days. http://www.hmongfunerals.com/site/hmongfunerals/content_services.html. Not only do the services last many days the family stays up for those days without sleep or atShow MoreRelated Is there such a Thing as ÃÅ"ber-Culture Clash?1004 Words   |  4 PagesCompared to our neighbours out in the Far East, our culture does not rely as much on respect and ancestral worship, and this is where we find Japanese culture strange and how our culture does not compare. 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